The Aftermath of Oceanic Flight 815
by Alcharma
Summary: Buffy Summer's biggest problem was trying to convince a new Slayer to leave her home in Australia and come back to the US with her. Then her plane crashed, leaving her stranded on an island with the other survivors of Oceanic 815. ABANDONED for now
1. Pilot Part 1

Just a bit of a Buffy/LOST crossover. Have always wondered what Buffy would do in this situation, and the plotbunny wouldn't leave me alone til I wrote it. I aspire to write Buffy into both season, but we'll see, depending on how much y'all like it and how long it takes me to write it. Nothing really unusual happens... It's obviously AU for Buffy, but it's pretty much word for word from the LOST script.

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or LOST. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon, and LOST belongs to J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof. I'm just a poor college student playing around with the characters. The plot pretty much belongs to J.J. and Damon, as I'm just taking existing LOST episodes and inserting Buffy into them. A large amount of dialog is taken from the episode itself. Episode transcripts taken from twiztv.

The dividers (--------------------------) mean it's a scene change. I'm going off of the original script for the pilot and don't really fancy making up stuff to fill the hours worth of gaps in between each scene. Yes, I know, I'm lazy. --

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_Well, that was completely useless_, thought Buffy, placing her ticket stub in her bag and rifling around in her purse for a stick of gum.

Since defeating the First nearly a year ago, the gang had split, each member constantly traveling to a different country to find newly-called Slayers, and only seeing each other between jobs. For the last couple of days, Buffy had been in Sydney, Australia, attempting to convince a Slayer to return to America with her, to no avail. The girl had flat-out refused to come with her even though Buffy had explained the situation several times, and even went as far as threatening to call the cops if she didn't leave her house immediately. After being yelled at and nearly thrown out of a four-story window, Buffy gave up, exasperated, and left the girl alone, planning to fly back to Los Angeles and come back with reinforcements.

Finding a pack of Orbit at the bottom of her purse, she extracted it with a flourish, unwrapping and popping a piece into her mouth before throwing it back and settling down into her seat. Feeling the rumbling of the plain as it started down the runway, she leaned back in her seat, turning her head toward the window, staring at the beautiful sunset beyond the glass. A few minutes later, the plain was in the air, climbing steadily, and Buffy leaned her head against the window, fully intending on sleeping the entire way to Los Angeles.

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Whacking her head against the window with a _crack, _Buffy awoke, slightly disoriented, feeling the entire cabin shake with turbulence. Rubbing her head, she glanced at her watch, seeing that they were only eight hours into the flight. Glancing to her right, she saw a handsome man, dressed in a suit, with cropped brown hair, talking to a woman in pink across the isle. Suddenly, a female voice fills the cabin, snapping Buffy's attention from the man next to her and to the front of the plane.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the pilot has switched on the 'fasten seatbelt' sign. Please reutn to your seats and fasten your seatbelt." Checking to make sure that her seatbelt was fastened correctly, Buffy turned back to the man next to her, who was in the process of reassuring the woman that everything was going to be alright.

"...keeps reminding me that planes want to be in the air," the woman was saying, casting a worried glance toward the back of the plane. The two continued to talk, but Buffy was paying them little attention. The plane was shaking even worse now, and Buffy squeezed her eyes shut, gripping the armrests so hard that her knuckles were turning white. Already hating the idea of flying, this was obviously making it worse.

Suddenly, the plane jerked violently, caused by a rapid decent as the plain clearly lost altitude. People who had not fastened their seatbelts flew out of their seats and hit the ceiling, causing Buffy to cover her head with her hands as various pieces of luggage rain down upon her. The last thing she remembered was grabbing her oxygen mask after it dropped from the ceiling, alarms blaring in her ears and head pressed back against the headrest before everything turned black.

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When she came to, she was lying sprawled on the ground, sand moist under her and loud screams sounding in her ears. Bringing her hand to the back of her head and feeling a large bump, she pushed herself to a sitting position, taking in the scene in front of her. The backdrop of the beautiful clear, blue water and white sand was marred by the plane wreckage and pieces of luggage, people scattered around the beach, some screaming, and others running around frantically.

Checking herself for wounds and finding only superficial scratches on her arms and face, in addition to the bump on the back of her head, Buffy pushed herself up off of the sand, sprinting toward the commotion, the Slayer in her taking over. She brought an arm to her face to protect her eyes from the head and fire as she passed the burning wreckage in order to get to the people who needed help on the other side. Skidding to a halt in front of a young, blond woman who was screaming hysterically, Buffy grabbed her shoulders, shaking her slightly.

"Hey!" Buffy tried to get her attention but she continued screaming. "HEY!" she yelled, shaking her a bit harder, causing the woman to stop screaming and look at her. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Boone," she said faintly, looking away from Buffy and scanning the surrounding beach. Having no idea what she is talking about, Buffy shook her again, forcing the woman to look at her.

"Are you hurt?" she said more firmly this time, holding the woman at arm's length and checking for any blood.

"I don't... I don't think so," answered the woman, causing Buffy to let out a small sigh of relief and push her to a sitting position in the sand.

"Ok, _stay here_. I'll be back in a second. _Stay here_," she emphasized, and once she was certain that the woman wasn't going anywhere, turned on her heel and once again sprinted toward the wreckage. A man was suddenly sucked into a still-whirring engine laying on the beach and it explodes, disrupting the ground and sending Buffy to the sand. Picking herself up, she sprinted off, coming to a stop when she hears a very loud creaking sound. Spinning around, she saw a large piece of airplane wing, dangling precariously and two people sitting dangerously close to it.

"Get up!" she screamed at the people, running as fast as she could toward them and waving her arms in the air frantically. The looked up at her, startled, but didn't move. "Yes you! Get up! Move!" Seeing the wing directly above him, the large man lept up and tried to get the very pregnant blond to a standing position. Hurrying to her side, Buffy grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the wreckage, all the while urging her to move faster. The second they cleared the wing, it crashed into the sand, exploded, and knocked the three to their feet. The main explosion caused a series of smaller explosions and pieces of big, burning metal shot up into the air causing the survivors to scream and run away.

"Are you guys ok?" she asked, wiping the sand off of her face and turning toward the two people laying beside her. At their nods she continued. "Stay with her, ok?"

"Dude, I'm not going anywhere," replied the man, obviously shocked at what had happened. Without another word, she spun around, looking for anyone else who looked like they needed help. Seeing no one in immediate danger, Buffy spotted the man that was sitting next to on the plane; his shirt was torn and splattered with blood, and he was walking back into the brush looking slightly disoriented. Hurrying to catch up with him, she sprinted down the beach and into the forest, stopping once she reached a small clearing. Seeing him standing by a tree his shirt and jacket off, she winced as she got a good look at the gash on his back.

"Hey," she stated hesitantly, causing him to turn toward her, wincing slightly at the hurried motion. "That looks pretty nasty..."

"Did you ever use a needle?" he asked, motioning with his hands as if sewing with a needle and thread. Buffy looked at him with a confused expression on her face, but stepped toward him anyways.

"What?" she replied, giving him a look.

"Did you ever patch a pair of jeans?" he continued, looking at her imploringly as she made her way toward him.

"I... uh... Yeah, sure I've sewn things before..." she answered, purposely leaving out the fact that she had learned how to sew so that she could patch herself up if need be after a particularly nasty patrol.

"That's fantastic. Listen, do you have a second? I could use a little help here..." he trailed off, waiting for her answer.

"Oh... Oh!" Buffy exclaimed, understanding what he needed from her. "Right, of course, sorry..."

"I'd do it myself. I'm a doctor, but I just can't reach..."

"No," she interrupted gently, motioning for him to sit down, which he did. "It's no problem. Of course I will."

"Thank you," he said, picking up the small bottle of vodka from the sand and handing it to her. She uncapped it quickly, pouring a small amount on her hand before setting it down and grabbing the small sewing kit that he handed her. Opening it, she took out a needle and sterilized it in the vodka before turning back to the kit and noticing the variety of colored threads.

"So, any color preference?" she asked, tilting her head to the side slightly, as he appeared shocked at the fact that she knew how to sterilize things with the alcohol he had given her.

"No. Standard black," he responded with a chuckle. After threading the needle with black thread, she once again picked up the bottle, pouring it over his wound and wincing sympathetically as he gasped from the pain. After he assured her that he was fine, she went to work, stitching up his wound easily, earning herself a few quizzical looks.

"My aunt's a nurse," she lied, quickly coming up with an excuse for her being so good at sewing people up. Pause. "My name's Buffy, by the way," she added, sending him a smile as she finished it off, cutting the thread with a pair of small scissors that she had fished out of the sewing kit.

"Jack," he said, holding out a hand that she gladly accepted.

"Well, Jack, I'm all finished here," she started, placing everything back into the little kit and closing it, "so, we can head back to the beach if you'd like." They stood up, and after Jack put his shirt on, they headed back toward the beach.

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Night had fallen and the fire from the burning wreckage provides light and warmth. A small group stood near the largest fire, while other smaller groups sat around their own personal fires nearby. Buffy was lying on her back in the sand, looking at the beautiful star-filled sky through the sheets of smoke, and listening silently to Jack and a pretty brunette  _Kate_, she reminded herself  talking a couple of feet away from her, having just returned from tending to the marshal.

"We must have been about forty thousand feet when it happened," Jack was saying, holding a leaf that had been torn into the shape of an airplane. "Hit an air pocket and dropped maybe... two hundred feet. The turbulence was..." Pause. "I blacked out."

"I didn't," responded Kate, and both Jack and Buffy turned toward her in interest. "I saw the whole thing. I knew that the tail was gone, but I ... couldn't bring myself to look back. And then the... front end of the plane broke off."

"Well it's not here on the beach," said Jack with a sigh. "Neither is the tail. We need to figure out which way we came in."

"Why?" asked Kate, looking at him with a confused expression on her face. Buffy was wondering the same thing.

'Cause there's a chance we could find the cockpit," he explained, looking from Buffy to Kate and back again. " If it's intact, we might be able to find the transceiver, and we could send out a signal and help the rescue party find us." _Ah_, Buffy thought, returning her gaze once again to the beautiful sky.

"How do you know all that?" she heard Kate ask.

"Took a couple of flying lessons. It wasn't for me," he responded.

"I saw some smoke. Just through the valley." Pause. "If you're thinking of going for the cockpit, I'm going with you."

"Alright," he answered after a pause, turning toward Buffy, who was paying him little attention, instead continuing to gaze at the stars. "Buffy, you coming?" Without turning her head toward him, she answered "I'm in," closing her eyes and loving the feeling of the salty ocean breeze caressing her face. Suddenly, a loud, rumbling sound that reminded Buffy of creaking metal, sounded through the air, causing her to open her eyes and look into the blackness behind her. Looking around at the other survivors, she jumped to her feet as she saw a few of them walk toward the forest.

Walking toward an older man, a younger black man, and a boy who appeared to be his son, she stopped, narrowing her eyes in attempt to see into the darkness and straining her Slayer senses for any clue to what this thing might be. Unable to feel anything, she squinted harder, feeling Jack and Kate come up behind her.

They all turned to their right, where they assumed the noises were coming from; in addition to the rumbling the sound of trees falling and wood breaking also carried to the beach. In the distance, Buffy could see trees falling in a distinct path as if something was knocking them down. Looking around, she noticed that everyone had edged toward the forest even as the heavy stomping and howling continued.

"Terrific," a short, rather punk-looking, man standing next to her muttered dryly, and Buffy closed her eyes, cursing the fact that no matter where she was, something supernatural aways found her. 

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The next morning, Buffy sat with her feet in the water, staring out at the horizon as the others stood behind her, talking about the noises they had heard the night before.

"It sounded like an animal, not exactly..."

"That sound that it made, I keep thinking that there was something really familiar about it."

"Really? Where are you from?"

"The Bronx."

"Might be monkeys."

"Sure, it's monkeys. It's monkey island..."

"Theoretically, we don't even know if we're on an island, let alone..."

The voices overlapped as the discussion continued, Buffy not paying them much attention. Feeling someone walk up behind her, she looked up, smiling as she saw Jack standing there.

"You ready?" he asked, returning her smile. Nodding, she stood up, brushing the sand off of her shorts and following Jack and Kate toward a small group of survivors.

"I'm gonna go out and look for the cockpit. See if we can find a transceiver to send a distress signal, help the rescue team," said Jack, turning toward Boone, a handsome young man with gorgeous blue eyes. "You're going to need to keep an eye on the wounded. If the guy in the suit wakes up, try to keep him calm, but don't let him remove that piece of shrapnel. You understand?"

"Yeah. Got it," he said, nodding. "What about the guy with the leg, the tourniquet?"

"I stopped the bleeding. I took it off last night. He should be all right," replied Jack.

"Yeah. Cool. Good Job," responded Boone absently, watching as Charlie, the short, punk-rocker dude, stood up.

"I'll come with," he said, turning toward Jack. "I want to help."

"Nah," responded Jack, "I don't need any more help."

"No, it's cool," Charlie insisted. "I don't really feel like standing still, so..." At Jack's nod, he smiled, happy to be included in an adventure. "Excellent."

About half an hour later, the four were still tromping through the jungle in search for the cockpit. Jack and Buffy were leading the way, and Charlie and Kate followed behind, emerged in a conversation of their own. Charlie and Kate caught up with them, obviously intent on asking them something.

"Hey," said Jack, stopping to see what was up.

"You ever heard of Driveshaft?" asked Kate, looking back and forth between Buffy and Jack.

"You all, everybody. You all, every... body..." sang Charlie, stopping when Jack shook his head. Kate smiled and Buffy giggled slightly at the expression on his face and how cute Charlie looked when he was singing. Jack turned around and continued on, Buffy following behind him after shooting Kate and Charlie another smile.

A while layer, as Jack, Buffy, Kate, and Charlie continued fighting their way through the tall grass, it started to pour, drenching them in seconds. Buffy stumbled slightly as she got a face-full of water, but righted herself quickly, bringing her hand up to rain the water out of her eyes.

"Hey, guys," started Charlie, tripping on a protruding root and grabbing onto a nearby tree to steady himself. "Is this normal? Kind of a day turning into night? You know, end of the world type weather. Is this... guys?" His three companions ignored him, annoyed that they were getting soaked and continued walking. A few minutes later, they stumbled into a small clearing, staring in awe in front of them at the plane's cockpit. They paused outside the damaged area in order to prepare themselves for what they're about to find. Annoyed with the waiting, Buffy stepped forward, hoisting herself up so that she could get into the plane.

"Let's do this," she said, and without another word, she climbed in, leaving the other three staring after her. The inside was a mess and there were several dead passengers still strapped to their seats. Seeing Jack, Kate, and Charlie shuddered a bit at the sight, but Buffy sighed grimly, knowing that this scene wasn't affecting her the way that it should have. The angle of the cabin made it a tough climb to the cockpit, but being the Slayer, Buffy maneuvered it easily, grasping the handle and giving it a tug. It didn't budge.

"Let's just get this trans..." Charlie trailed off, obviously forgetting the name of what they're looking for.

"Transceiver," answered Jack, making his way up the aisle toward the cockpit after Buffy.

"Transceiver thing and get out of here," he continued, pulling himself up in an attempt to keep up with the others. Annoyed that the door wouldn't open, Buffy continued to look around, spotting a fire extinguisher next to her and grabbed it, using it to beat open the door. Just as Jack and Kate reached her, the door burst open, and the dead, bloodied body fell out and downward toward the bottom of the plane. Jack and Kate yelled in surprise as the body fell past them, and Charlie, who had his back up against the cabin partition nearly fell out of the plane as he let go of the seat he was holding on to for support. Having had too many things jump out at her to be scared by the body, Buffy simply ignored it and hoisted herself up and into the cockpit.

"You okay?" she heard Jack ask with a response of "yeah" from Kate. "Buffy you okay?"

"Yeah I'm good," she called back, starting to rifle through the debris in search of the transceiver.

"I'm fine," she heard Charlie call out sarcastically, and gave a small smile. "Charlie's fine by the way. I'm okay."

Once Jack and Kate entered the cockpit, they braced themselves against the wall, panting from the climb, and looking at Buffy in confusion at why she wasn't at all out of breath. Ignoring them, Buffy continued to look around, reaching over the dead pilot in search of the transceiver. However, the pilot was not as dead as she assumed he was, and he gasped the second she touched him, causing her to jump and let out a small squeak of surprise, Slayer experience be damned. She stepped back a bit allowing Jack easier access to the injured man.

"Hey! Can you hear me?" asked Jack, slapping the pilot's face gently to get him to focus before turning toward Kate. "I need that water." Jack changed his position, bracing his legs against the floor in order to have more mobility of his hands. Accepting the bottled water that Kate had found near the co-pilot's seat, he helped him drink, attempting to sooth the pilot's coughing.

"How many survived?" asked the pilot, voice rough and eyes a bit unfocused.

"At least forty-eight," answered Jack, looking the pilot over with concern. "Do you feel anything broken?"

"No, no," he answered. "Just my head... It's a little dizzy, that's all."

"It's probably a concussion," Jack answered after examining the pilot's head wound. Buffy continued to shuffle around the cockpit, still looking for the transceiver, not really listening to what Jack and the pilot were saying. However, she looked up when the pilot started panting with the effort to keep talking.

"Six hours in, our radio went out. No one could see us. We turned back to land in Fiji. By the time we hit turbulence, we were a thousand miles off course. They're looking for us in the wrong place." At this revelation, Buffy felt her stomach drop. They were more than a thousand miles off course. _How can anyone find us if we're a thousand miles off course_, she thought hysterically before taking a deep breath in attempt to calm herself down. But the pilot continued. "We have a transceiver." Relieved that at least they had that going for them, she looked around, noticing that Charlie was nowhere in sight. Motioning to Kate that she was going to go find him, she slipped out of the cockpit, using the seats as leverage as she climbed down the cabin.

"Charlie?" she called, wondering where he went. Suddenly, the door to the bathroom popped open and Charlie emerged, looking a bit odd. "Hey, there you are! What were you doing in there?"

"What?" he answered, blinking a bit at her. However, before either of them could say anything else, a loud roar echoed through the jungle, making the plane shift and creak.

"Come on..." she whispered, grabbing his hand and practically dragging him up the aisle toward the cockpit. Making sure that Jack had a secure grip on Charlie's wrist and had hoisted him up, she grabbed the edges of the door, pulling herself into the small room. The growling continued, even closer than before.

"It's right outside," gasped Kate, trying to keep her voice as quiet as possible.

"What? What's outside?" asked the pilot, but Jack shushed him loudly, straining to hear what was going on outside.

The growling continued, as branches crunched and shadows passed through the cockpit's broken windows. Moving toward the window, Jack attempted to wipe it free of rain, while the pilot got out of his seat, moving a few branches out of his way so that he could out of the window. Without warning, the plane gave a terrible jerk, and the pilot was wrenched out of the cockpit, screaming and kicking in an attempt to get free. Buffy leaped into action, ignoring Kate's scream and Charlie's startled yell, grabbing the pilot's feet in an attempt to pull him back into the small room, but was forced to let go as he was ripped completely out of the cockpit.

"What the hell just happened?" yelled Charlie, but the other three were in too much shock to answer him. The plane continued to rock unsteadily at its perch in the trees, tilting it so much that the transceiver rolled off the pilot's chair and out of the cockpit, free falling toward the ground. Knowing its importance and not willing to take the chance that it might break, Buffy leaped head-first out of the cockpit and slid down the aisle, snatching the transceiver out of the air, before falling from the plane and landing on the ground outside.

Seeing the plane detach from the tree, she scrambled to her feet, jumping out of the way seconds before it crashed into the ground. Once again getting to her feet, she ran as fast as she could after Jack, Kate, and Charlie, using all her strength to catch up with them. Ahead of her, Charlie tripped and fell into the mud, his feet tangled in a bunch of roots. Skidding to a stop, she grabbed him by the arm, pulling him to his feet, before continuing to run in the direction that Jack and Kate disappeared. Stumbling into a small clearing, she saw Kate, shivering from the cold and obviously frightened out of her mind.

"Kate!" yelled Buffy, causing her to turn around in relief. Looking around, she realizes that it was just Kate. Jack wasn't with her. "Where's Jack?"

"I don't know! I thought he was with you!" she said, eyes wide in fear. Looking toward the sky and realizing that it has stopped raining, she appeared to calm instantly. "We have to go back for him," she said firmly. Buffy was about to open her mouth to argue, but Charlie beat her to it.

"Go back? There? Kate, there's a certain gargantuan about this thing," he reasoned, looking at her as if she had gone completely mental.

"Charlie's right. Stay here, I can handle this," said Buffy, looking between the two. Without another word, she tossed Charlie the transceiver and turned on her heel, sprinting back the way she came. Slowing to a brisk walk once she was out of eye shot of the others, she took a deep breath, composing herself before heading deeper into the jungle. Something shiny caught her eye and she reached down to pick it up. Cleaning off the mud with her thumb, she realized that it was a small aviator's pin, obviously having been worn by the pilot. Hearing a gasp behind her, she spun around to see Kate and Charlie behind her, each looking rather sick. Turning back to see what they were looking at, she saw the pilot's bloody and mangled body draped over the canopy of branches overhead, his face completely unrecognizable.

"What is..." started Charlie, trailing off in shock.

"It's the pilot," said someone behind them, and the three whipped around to see Jack emerging from the bushes. Seeing him, Buffy let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding, extremely relieved to see that he had made it. Kate was obviously thinking the same thing, as she stepped toward him, looking him over to make sure that he was alright.

"Did you see it?" Kate asked, coming to a stop in front of him.

"No," he replied, shaking his head. "It was right behind me when I... dove into the bushes." It looked as if he was going to continue, but was interrupted by Charlie.

"Guys?" he said, pointing toward the pilot's body, and the other three looked up. "How does something like that happen?" 


	2. Pilot Part 2

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or LOST. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon, and LOST belongs to J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof. I'm just a poor college student playing around with the characters. The plot pretty much belongs to J.J. and Damon, as I'm just taking existing LOST episodes and inserting Buffy into them. A large amount of dialog is taken from the episode itself. Episode transcripts taken from twiztv.

Thanks to Dark Phoenix 13X, PrecariousPersonata, and goldenshadows for your reviews! Special thanks to PrecariousPersonata for suggesting that I turn my anonymous reviews on. I had no idea that they were turned off!

Oh, on another note, I know all of the other Losties have their little flashback stories, but I assume y'all know most of the events in Buffy's life, so I doubt I'll be doing one for her. Will just be dealing with the events that happen on the island.

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After having gotten over their shock of finding the pilot dangling from a tree, the four headed back to the beach, Buffy in the lead so that she could, secretly, make sure that nothing happened to the other three. Jack was playing with the transceiver with Charlie right on his heels, much to his annoyance. Kate brought up the rear, listening intently to Jack and Charlie's conversation.

"Anything?" asked Charlie, practically tripping over Jack's heels in order to get a better look at the transceiver.

"You keep asking if there's anything," responded Jack, clearly fed up with Charlie following him so close.

"Pardon me for appearing desperate," said Charlie sarcastically, "but before the pilot was ripped from the cockpit, he did say that no one's gonna find us unless we get that transceiver working... So, is there anything?"

"No," answered Jack, feeling slightly guilty that he had snapped at Charlie when he was obviously traumatized. Jack sped up slightly, wanting to catch up with Buffy, while Charlie and Kate started up a conversation of their own.

"Hey," greeted Buffy as Jack appeared by her side. "Any luck?" She nodded toward the transceiver in hand, but he merely shook his head.

"Nothing. All I get is static." he answered, and the two walked for a while in silence. "So, what were you doing in Australia?" Buffy turned toward him, quickly trying to piece together a plausible story.

"I was there visiting a friend," she said breezily, not elaborating any further. "You?"

"I was there getting my dad," answered Jack, a hard look appearing in his eyes. "I uh... He had just died there."

"Oh... I'm so sorry," she replied sympathetically, knowing how hard it was to loose a parent. They continued their walk to the beach in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Stepping out of the jungle onto the beach, they could see that two men  Sayid and Sawyer  were in the middle of a fight, and the others were just standing around, unsure of what to do.

"Hey, guys, come on, man!" Michael was yelling, looking around for assistance and attempting to break the two up. "Hey!" Buffy started running toward them, watching as Sayid punched Sawyer in the stomach, and Sawyer tackled him to the sand in retaliation. Reaching them as Sawyer sat on Sayid and continued to punch him in the face, she tackled Sawyer, sending them both rolling on the sand.

"Hey!" she could hear Jack yelling, and looking up, she could see that he and Michael were each holding one of Sayid's arms in attempt to stop him from lunging at Sawyer. "Break it up!" Noticing that Sawyer had picked himself up from the ground and was now running toward Sayid, Buffy sprinted after him, grabbing his arms and pinning them behind his back, effectively cutting off his effort to get to the other man.

"Get off me, Barbie!" shouted Sawyer, struggling to get away from her.

"Calm down," she said harshly, tightening her grip on his arms, causing him to stop his movements and turn toward her in shock. He could feel the power and strength radiating off the five foot 3' woman in waves. A few feet away, Sayid was still struggling to release himself from Jack and Michael's hold.

"That's it! It's over!" she heard Michael yell, her eyes still locked with those of the man she was restraining.

"I'm sick of this redneck!" shouted Sayid, making Buffy tilt her head to the side a bit as she noticed his accent. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Sawyer started struggling again in attempt to wrench his arms out of her grasp.

"You want some more of me, boy?" he snarled.

"Tell them!" Sayid responded, also trying to get away from those holding him back. "Tell everyone what you told me! Tell them that I crashed the plane! Go on! Tell them I made the plane crash!"

"If the shoe fits, buddy!" retorted Sawyer, breaking free of Buffy's grasp, but making no move to attack Sayid. Buffy let him be, eying him warily, ready to jump into action if another fight broke out.

"What is going on?" asked Jack, releasing Sayid when he was sure that he would not try to attack Sawyer again. Michael did the same before pulling a pair of handcuffs from his pocket and handing it to Jack.

"Look, my kid," he gestured in Walt's direction, "found these in the jungle." But before he could say anything else, he was interrupted by Sawyer.

"And this guy," Sawyer started, jerking his head in Sayid's direction, "was sitting in the back row of business class the whole flight. Never got up." Buffy noticed that Kate glanced at the handcuffs Jack was holding, but didn't think anything of it, assuming that she was simply startled that there was a prisoner on the plane. "Hands folded underneath the blanket. And for some reason... I'm just pointing this out... the guy I saw next to him didn't make it."

"Thank you so much for observing my behavior," retorted Sayid sarcastically, giving Sawyer a withering glare.

"You don't think I saw them pull you out of line before we boarded?" snarled Sawyer, striding toward the other man and forcing Buffy to restrain him, once Sayid tried to get past Michael and Jack. "Come on, bring it!"

"Stop!" Buffy heard Kate shout from somewhere behind her. Sayid turned away from the scene and walked a few feet away, throwing his hands up in exasperation, while Buffy turned toward Kate and let go of Sawyer, who simply stood there, glaring at everyone. "We found the transceiver, but it's not working. Can anybody help?"

"Yes. I might be able to," answered Sayid, walking back toward the group and stopping in front of Kate.

"Oh, great!" exclaimed Sawyer, obviously annoyed. "Perfect! Let's trust this guy!"

"Hey," started Hurley, causing everyone to turn in his direction. "We're all in this together, man. Let's treat each other with a little respect."

"Shut up, Lardo," Sawyer responded, giving Hurley a look.

"Woah!" said Hurley, obviously hurt by Sawyer's verbal attack.

"Hey! Stop it!" demanded Buffy, stepping toward Sayer and looking him square in the eye. "Enough! I'm so sick and tired of your holier-than-thou bullshit! Give it a rest!" The two continued to glare at each other for a few seconds before Sawyer turned and walked away, leaving Buffy staring after him.

"Whatever you say, Barbie," he called over his shoulder. Buffy gave Hurley a small smile and turned her attention to Boone, who had just walked up to Jack.

"You guys found the cockpit?" he asked. Jack nodded. "Any survivors?" Kate and Charlie glanced at each other quickly, while Buffy kept her face impassive, and Jack shook his head.

"It's a dual band, military spec," said Sayid, looking up from the transceiver that he was examining. "Chances are, the battery's good, but the radio is dead."

"Can you fix it?" asked Kate, walking up to him to get a better look at what he was doing.

"I need some time," he answered before giving her a smile and retreating further down the beach so that he could play around with it in silence. After watching him go, Rose, an older black woman, emerged from the group and walked over to Jack.

"Doctor, the man with the shrapnel... I-I think you should take a look at him," she said, a look of concern marring her features. With a nod, Jack headed off to tend to the injured marshal, and sparing him a last glance, Buffy headed off in the direction that Sayid had gone, leaving the rest of the group to their business. Seeing him a small ways down the beach, she walked over to him, smiling as he looked up at her.

"Mind if I..." she trailed off, gesturing to a spot next to him. At his nod, she plopped herself down on the sand, she looked over to see him fiddling with the transceiver. "I'm Buffy by the way."

"Sayid," he said, offering her a small smile. Before they could say anything else, Buffy felt a shadow block out the sun that was shining on her face and looked up to see the large man with curly brown hair looking down at her. She offered him a smile and motioned that he should sit down, which he did before turning toward Sayid, who had also looked up at his arrival.

"Chain-smoking jackass," he muttered under his breath, making Buffy giggle and Sayid smile at his comment.

"Some people have problems," he responded, putting down the transceiver in order to give Hurley his full attention.

"Some people have problems... us," Hurley continued. "Him. You're okay. I like you." He turned toward Buffy with a slight blush. "You too." She gave him a wide smile, which he easily returned before focusing his attention back on Sayid holding out his hand. "Hurley..."

"Sayid," he responded, holding out his hand as he introduced himself.

"Buffy," she offered, smiling and giving him a small wave.

"How do you know how to do all that?" asks Hurley, motioning to the transceiver still clutched in Sayid's hand.

"I was a military communications officer," he answered, once again returning to the transceiver.

"Oh, yeah? You ever see battle?" prodded Hurley, a look of interest on his face.

"I fought in the Gulf war," Sayid responded, playing with the wires inside the transceiver.

"No way!" said Hurley, obviously excited. Buffy sat by quietly, listening to their conversation and playing with the sand beneath her toes. "I got a buddy who fought over there. He was in the 104th airborne. What were you? Air Force? Army?"

"The Republican Guard," he responded, looking at Hurley, who in turn fell silent at the revelation. The three sat for a while, Sayid attempting to fix the transceiver while Buffy and Hurley made smalltalk among themselves. A while later, Hurley got up after being called away by Michael, and Buffy leaned back in the sand, enjoying the tropical atmosphere while she could. Opening her eyes when she felt someone walk up to her, she gave Kate a small smile before turning to Sayid who was still fiddling with the transceiver.

"Is it working?" asked Kate, settling down on the sand next to Buffy.

"It seems to be... except we're not picking up a signal," he answered, glancing toward the two women.

"Why do we need to pick up a signal? Aren't we trying to send one?" Buffy piped in, looking at him in confusion. Kate seemed to be wondering the same thing, as she looked at him for a response.

"Yes, but what you want to see here is little bars," he responded, pointing to the screen of the transceiver. Buffy and Kate moved closer in order to see what he was pointing at. "The bars would show the radio is getting reception. We could broadcast blind, hope that someone... maybe a ship somewhere, picks up our distress call. But that could waste the battery, which might not last that long. There is one thing we could try..."

"What?" asked Kate, as he trailed off uncertainly.

"Seeing if we can get a signal from high ground," he responded, glancing around at the surrounding mountains.

"How high?" she asked. Sayid looked behind her, eyes following the path of the mountain toward the sky, making Kate turn around in interest at what he was looking for. Buffy groaned, taking in the sharp mountain ridge, knowing that it was going to be one hell of a climb. While Kate headed off in search of Jack, Buffy pushed herself to a sitting position, grabbing her tennis shoes and putting them on.

"If you're going to trek up that mountain to find a signal, I'm coming with you," she said, as Sayid had opened his mouth to protest. Nodding his approval, the two stood up and made their way back to camp to prepare for their hike. Having grabbed a few water bottles, Buffy stuffed them in a backpack along with some other items before swinging it over shoulder and walking over to join Sayid. Smiling at Kate as she joined them, the three started heading into the jungle before someone called out to them from behind.

"Hey!" They turned to see Shannon, a young woman with shoulder-length blond hair, dressed in a short skirt and tank top, running up to them. "I'd like to come with you." Buffy looked at her attire and shrugged inwardly. Not great for mountain climbing, but hey, she'd been patrolling in worse. Boone came jogging up and grabbed her arm, attempting to pull her away from the group.

"She's not going," he said, trying to steer her away. "She doesn't want to go."

"Like hell I'm not!" she countered, wrenching her arm from his grasp. "You don't know what the hell I want to do!" The two continued to argue, causing Kate and Sayid to glance at each other and Buffy to fidget uncomfortably as she watched them. Boone turned toward them and attempted to apologize for Shannon.

"She postures and makes really bad decisions to upset her family which, at the moment, is me," he explained, obviously annoyed at her behavior.

"Shut up and stop trying to be charming," she said to Boone before turning back toward Sayid, Buffy, and Kate. "I'm coming with you."

"Um..." started Buffy, sensing a confrontation approaching by the way Kate was looking at the blond.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea..." said Kate, eying her outfit with distaste, clearly thinking that she wouldn't be able to handle herself out in the jungle.

"What are you," scoffs Shannon, looking Kate up and down. "Two years older than me? Please. And what about her?" she added, pointing at Buffy. Buffy cocked an eyebrow at her, but didn't say anything as she caught sight of Charlie walking up to the group. Shannon immediately turned toward him and he looked startled at the attention. "You're going, aren't you?"

"Yeah, are you?" he replied, loving the attention that Shannon was giving him.

"Yep," she said, giving Boone a 'try and stop me' look.

"Yeah, I'm definitely going," he said, making up his mind.

"Look," said Kate, fed up with all the arguing, "everybody can come, but we're leaving now." Without another word, she strode off toward the grove of beach trees, Buffy and Sayid glancing at each other before following after her, Shannon, Boone, and Charlie bringing up the rear. Buffy spotted Sawyer sitting on the beach alone, but he made no move to join them, so she simply turned away from him, following Kate away from the beach. However, a second later, he walked toward the group, catching Kate's eye, and the two exchanged words before all seven of them headed off into the jungle.

After making their way through the forest, they hit the mountain ridge, all agreeing that they were up to handling the climb. Grabbing tree roots for leverage as they climbed, Sayid assisted Shannon from the front and Boone assisted her from the back, making sure that she didn't fall, while Sawyer helped Kate. No one was bothering to assist Charlie, as they figured that he could handle it himself, and Buffy was so far ahead of the group that they couldn't have helped her if they wanted to. She had continued to position herself in front of the others, feeling that if something attacked them, she would be able to deal with it before it got to anyone else.

Reaching the top of the ridge, Buffy heaved herself over the ledge, collapsing in the tall grass and looking around, noticing that they had reached a grove of palm trees. She continued to lay in the grass until the other six reached the ledge, sweat trickling down her face and arms and muscles burning from the exertion. After everyone had caught their breath from the climb, Sayid and Sawyer started arguing again, while the others looked on, too tired to interfere.

"Okay, wide open space!" started Sawyer, throwing his arms out to his side and turning in a circle, indicating their location. "You should check the radio, see if we're good."

"We're not going to have any reception here," answered Sayid, still scanning their surroundings for a path that led further up the mountain.

"Just try it," said Sawyer, starting to get irritated.

"I don't want to waste the batteries." This seemed like a reasonable explanation to Buffy, but she continued to stare up at them from her position on the ground, not really in the mood to have to break up a fight.

"I'm not asking you to keep it on all day," countered Sawyer, clearly annoyed that Sayid wasn't listening to him.

"We're still blocked by the mountain," reasoned Sayid, stubbornly standing his ground.

"Just check the damn radio!" shouted Sawyer, looking like he was about ready to punch the other man out.

"If I just check, we might not have enough juice when we get to-..." However, before Buffy could get up to restrain one of them, Sayid's sentence was interrupted by the loud sound of an animal breathing. They all stilled and turned toward the direction of the sound, Buffy pushing herself up from the ground in anticipation of a fight.

"Oh, my God," muttered Shannon, coming to stand behind Boone, who in response, stepped a bit to the right so that he was completely hiding her from view of the thing that was moving toward them.

"What the hell's that?" he asked, squinting in an attempt to see the thing better.

"Something's coming," stated Kate, and Buffy looked over at her with a 'well, DUH' expression. She walked forward toward the sound, putting Kate behind her, seeing that the grass was parting as the thing ran toward them. She still couldn't see it, but she could hear it clearly, and it sounded like it was hurtling toward them.

"Uh guys... We should probably..." she trailed off, attempting to push Kate in the opposite direction. The brunette snapped to her senses and started running in the opposite direction, yelling at the others to run away. Buffy stood her ground as Charlie and Sayid follow Kate, and Boone grabbed Shannon's arm in an attempt to get her running. Like Buffy, Sawyer stayed put, simply staring in the direction that the thing is charging from. _God dammit, _Buffy thought_, he's going to get himself killed!_ She rushed to his side and tugged on his arm in an attempt to get him moving, but he refused, pushing her toward the others and yelling at her to run. She could hear Kate yelling her and Sawyer's names and Shannon screaming but ignored it, fully concentrating on trying to convince Sawyer to stop being such a jackass and run.

However, when he casually pulled the gun out of his pocket and took aim at the creature, she relaxed slightly, letting him deal with it, but kept her body tense in case anything went wrong. He shoot nearly a whole clip into the white, furry creature, refusing to move as it continued to hurtle at him, causing Buffy to leap forward and tackle him to the ground before the creature skid to a stop exactly where he had been standing two seconds earlier. Getting up from the ground and offering Sawyer a hand up, the both looked at the creature in interest as it growled one last time before dying right in front of them.

"Uh..." Buffy said, looking up at Sawyer, clearly at loss of what to say. They continued to look at the bear until they felt the others come up behind them.

"That's... that's a big bear," stated Shannon, quite unnecessarily, coming to a stop next to Buffy.

"You think that's what killed the pilot?" asked Boone. Buffy, Kate, and Charlie looked at each other, all thinking the same thing, but not knowing how to tell the others. Charlie finally answered.

"No," he stated firmly, turning toward Boone. "No, this is a tiny, teeny version compared to that."

"Guys, this isn't just a bear," started Kate, shaking them all out of their thoughts. "It's a polar bear." Everyone looked at her in shock before Boone walked over to the bear, nudging it with his foot to make sure it was completely dead before bending down to examine it.

"That can't be a polar bear," he states, standing up straight and turning toward the group.

"It's a polar bear," responded Sayid, Sawyer, and Kate at the same time. They all looked at each other before looking over to Shannon, who had just started talking.

"Wait a minute," she said, looking from one person to another and back to the bear. "Polar bears don't usually live in the jungle."

"No, polar bears don't live this far south," added Sayid, stepping forward to examine the bear.

"Well, apparently this one does," Buffy snapped, slightly annoyed that these people kept trying to deny what was right in front of their faces. They all turned toward her, slightly shocked expressions on their faces. "Sorry." Sawyer was the first to recover.

"Did," he said smugly, jerking the gun toward the dead bear. "It did."

"Where did that come from," asked Kate, turning to look at Sawyer.

"Probably bear village," he answered exasperated. "How the hell would I know?"

"Not the bear..." She pointed to the gun in his hand,. "... the gun." Everyone turned toward Sawyer, and he shrugged nonchalantly, looking Kate straight in the eye.

"I got it off one of the bodies."

"One of the bodies," said Sayid, obviously skeptical of his story.

"Yeah," Sawyer answered, turning to glare at Sayid. "One of the bodies."

"People don't just carry guns on planes," said Shannon, also clearly not believing him.

"They do if they're a U.S. Marshal, sweet cheeks," he explained, sending her an appreciative glance. "There was one on the plane."

"How do you know that?" Kate interrupted, causing Buffy to tilt her head at her as a response to her defensive tone. She seemed to be the only one that noticed, the other carrying on with their conversation.

"I saw a guy lying there with an ankle holster, so I took the gun," he said, seeming somewhat proud of his accomplishment. Sayid scoffed, clearly thinking that taking a gun from a dead or wounded man was nothing to be proud of. "And guess what. I just shot a bear!"

"So, why do you think he's a Marshal?" asked Kate, failing to congratulate him for saving their lives, instead shooting him an inpatient look.

"Because he had a clip-on badge. I took that, too." He showed Kate the badge that he had pulled out of his back pocket. "Thought it was cool," he added as way of an explanation.

"I know who you are," said Sayid in a tone that made it clear that he had just realized something. "You're the prisoner."

"I'm the what?" asked Sawyer, turning toward Sayid, obviously confused.

"You found a gun on a U.S. Marshal? Yes, I believe you did. You knew where it was because you were the one he was bringing back to the states." He pointed toward Sawyer, who looked back at him as if he had no idea what he was talking about. "Those handcuffs were on you. That's how you knew there was a gun."

"Piss off," growled Sawyer, obviously ready to go another round with Sayid.

"That's who you are, you son of a bitch!" yelled Sayid, clearly thinking the same thing. Extremely annoyed at their fighting, Buffy stepped up behind Sawyer, snatching the gun out of his hand before he could say another word.

"God! Will you two give it a rest!" she shouted, causing everyone to turn in her direction. "You two are like an old married couple!" Without another word, she pushed the button at the bottom of the grip, popping out the magazine, and pulled the top out of the gun, expelling the bullet in the chamber. "There, now can you two shut up?" She gave the gun to Sawyer and the clip to Sayid, turning around to walk away from the group, but before she can take another step, Sawyer grabbed her by the arm and pulled her toward him.

"I know your type," he said, tightening his grip on her arm. Sayid started walking toward them to force Sawyer off her, but Buffy simply shook her head, indicating that she could handle it herself.

"Don't be so sure about that," she countered, glaring up at him.

"Yeah," he continued, meeting her glare head-on. "I've been with girls like you."

"I highly doubt that," she said coolly, wrenching her arm from his grasp. "No girl's exactly like me." Without so much as another glance at him, she turned toward the group, all of who were looking at her with concern. "Come on guys, we should keep moving if we want to be back before dark." She gathered her backpack and continued walking up the mountain, not bothering to check if the others were following her.

A short while later, Sayid, who was in the lead, stopped suddenly and dropped his pack to the floor, taking out the transceiver. The rest stopped behind him, and Sawyer looked at him with an expression of deep loathing.

"No, now's a good time to check the radio," he says sarcastically. "Not before, but now." They continue to argue for a few more seconds before Sayid goes completely silent.

"A bar..." he said absently before looking up and shouting excitedly. "Hey! We've got a bar!" He continued to fiddle with the transceiver while the others eagerly ran up to gather around him. Buffy chose not to, instead seating herself on a fallen log, understanding the number of people crowded around the thing wouldn't help it to work any better. "Mayday! Mayday!" he said into the radio, but it only let out a loud, high-pitched whistle.

"What's that?" asked Kate, looking up at him in confusion.

"Feedback," he answered simply, continuing to turn the knobs on the transceiver.

"Feedback from what?" she prodded eagerly. "What would do that?"

"I don't know," Sayid answered back.

"I'll tell you what would do that," scoffed Sawyer "this guy not fixing the radio. The thing doesn't even work." The others ignored him listening to the static.

"No. No, no, no, no, it's not broken," said Sayid absently, continuing to listen to the static coming from the transceiver. "We can't transmit because something else is already transmitting." The six continued to talk about the transmission, Buffy standing up to see what all the commotion was about.

"Can we listen to it?" asked Kate eagerly, obviously wondering what could be blocking the signal.

"Let me get the frequency first," replied Sayid continuing to turn the knobs. "Hold on."

"It's the rescue party!" said Charlie excitedly. "It has to be!" A woman's voice streamed from the radio, but she was speaking in French. "It's the French! The French are coming!" he continued, a huge smile on his face. "I've never been so happy to hear the French!" Charlie and Sayid laughed, clearly excited that they were getting a signal. Kate, however, was concentrated on more important matters.

"I never took French," she said, looking around at the small group. "What is she saying. Does anyone speak French?" Boone pointed to Shannon who looked very much like a deer in the headlights, trying to back away from the group.

"She does."

"No, I don't," she said, and he turned to look at her incredulously. "What?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Boone asked. "You spent a year in Paris!"

"Yeah! Drinking, not studying!" she said, growing somewhat hysterical. Suddenly, a male voice sounded from transceiver, saying something unrecognizable in English.

"Iteration 1... 7-2-9-4-5-3-1..."

"Uh, please tell me that that's making sense to you because I'm pretty much drawing a blank..." said Buffy, turning toward Sayid for an explation.

"Oh," he said, groaning in panic. "No, no, no, no, no..." Once again, they could hear the French woman's voice as it through the air.

"'No, no, no' what?" asked Kate.

"The batteries are dying!" said Sayid frantically, gesturing toward the transceiver.

"I've heard you speak French!" Boone was once again attempting to convince Shannon to help them out. "Just listen to it!"

"I can't!" she cried, panic tinging her voice.

"Look!" shouted Buffy, coming to a halt in front of the blond. "It'd be really great if you could speak French. If you can, please, take this and tell us what she is saying." She grabbed the transceiver out of Sayid's hand and pressed it forcibly into Shannon's, giving her what she hoped was an encouraging smile.

"By iteration 1... 7-2-9-4-5-3-2..." said the male voice. Defeated, she brought the transceiver closer to her ear, concentrating on what the male voice was saying.

"It's... it's repeating," she said, looking at Buffy.

"She's right," agreed Sayid, listening carefully to the message. "It's a loop. 'Iteration.' It's a counter." Pause. "The next number will end... 5-3-3."

Sure enough, the male voice said, "By iteration 1... 7-2-9-4-5-3-3..."

"Does anyone know what the hell he's talking about?" asked Sawyer impatiently. Looking from Sayid to the transceiver.

"It's a running counter for the number of times the message is repeated," Sayid explained, pushing his hair back with his hands as he attempted the calculation. "It's roughly thirty seconds long, so... how long?"

"Don't forget to carry the one, Chief," Sawyer interrupted sarcastically, earning him a look from Buffy that he promptly ignored. Everyone except Sayid turned back to Shannon as the French woman started to speak. He was busy with the calculations.

"She's saying..." started Shannon, face screwed up in concentration. "'Please,' she's saying, 'Please help me. Please come get me." She was quiet for the rest of the message and the male voice sounded again.

"Come on," Boone urged.

"'I'm all alone now," she continued. "Um... 'On the island alone. Please, someone, come. The others... they're... they're dead. It killed them. It killed them all." They all stood there in silence, thinking about what Shannon had just told them. _Oh great_, thought Buffy, annoyed, _I land on a freaking tropical island, but of course, it has to be the one that has things on it that kill people_.

"That was good," said Boone, and Buffy offered her a small smile.

"Sixteen years," whispered Sayid, causing them all to forget the transceiver and turn toward him.

"What?" asked Sawyer, clearly having no clue what he was talking about.

"Sixteen years... and five months. That's the count." Buffy felt her heart sink and sunk to the ground, understanding what Sayid was trying to say immediately.

"What the hell are you talking about," asked Boone, obviously not getting it either.

"The iterations," Sayid responded." It's a distress call. A plea for help, a mayday. If the count is right, it's been playing over and over for sixteen years."

"Someone else... was stranded here?" Boone asked, looking around at everyone's shocked faces.

"Maybe they came for them," said Kate hopefully, not wanting to believe that the were stuck there, but Buffy was hardly paying attention, instead turning her attention to Charlie, who was looking around at the surrounding area.

"If someone came, why is it still playing?"

"Guys..." started Charlie, and everyone turned to look at him. "Where are we?" 

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Well, hope y'all enjoyed the second chapter! I know Buffy's not in it that much now, but don't worry, she will be! Please drop me a review on your way out to keep the muse happy!


	3. Tabula Rasa

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or LOST. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon, and LOST belongs to J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof. I'm just a poor college student playing around with the characters. The plot pretty much belongs to J.J. and Damon, as I'm just taking existing LOST episodes and inserting Buffy into them. A large amount of dialog is taken from the episode itself. Episode transcripts taken from twiztv.

Thanks to Dark Phoenix 13X, PrecariousPersonata, HarbringerLady, and xXxIzzyxXx for your reviews! I'm glad you're liking the story so far!

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After the whole debacle with the transceiver, Sayid, Sawyer, Charlie, Boone, Shannon, Kate, and Buffy were heading back to the beach, wanting to reach it before dark. However, it didn't seem like they would make it; the sun was already beginning to dip below the tops of the mountains. Buffy was once again leading the pack, using her Slayer senses to track the way back to camp.

"It's getting dark," said Boone, looking up toward the mountains. Buffy raised an eyebrow at the obvious comment but didn't say anything; instead, she continued to lead the group through the jungle.

"Then pick up the pace," said Sawyer, not bothering to look back at the man he was talking to.

"Hick," Buffy heard Boone mutter in retaliation.

"A little louder?" asked Sawyer, spinning around and starting toward Boone.

"We should make camp," Sayid interrupted, wanting to put a halt to the fight before it started. Shannon stopped in her tracks and looked at him quizzically.

"What? Here?" she asked.

"Yes, here," Sayid answered, taking off his backpack and setting it down on the ground. Everyone stopped except for Sawyer, who continued walking past the group.

"I'm not stopping," he said, still not stopping. "Y'all have a nice cookout."

"Excellent," Sayid said sarcastically. "Walk through the jungle in the dark."

"Oooh," mocked Sawyer, stopping and bringing his hands up, waving them around. "Afraid the trees are gonna get us?"

"No," Buffy jumped in, looking at him exasperatedly. "The thing that's knocking down the trees will get you, idiot."

"Well, Princess," he started, looking down at her. She met his gaze head on with a glare. "If you're so worried about me, how about you give me the clip back?" He took out the unloaded gun and showed it to her.

"Put your gun back in your pants, Sawyer," said Kate, looking at him with disgust. "Buffy and Sayid're right. You keep walking, you're not gonna make it to the beach.?"

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" She didn't answer him; she merely looked over at Buffy who was thinking the same thing. Charlie went very still and turned his head slowly from side to side so that he could glance between the two women.

"Trust me," Kate replied simply, not offering an explanation. After convincing Sawyer to stay, everyone split up to find supplies to make camp for the night. A while later, they were all gathered in front of a small fire, Sayid explaining what had happened during the crash.

"This is Australia," he said, indicating a rock he had put down in the grass. "This is us," he continued standing and holding a stick that burning on one end.

"Nice stick," Sawyer scoffed, reclining on the grass next to the fire. Everyone purposely ignored him, all their attention focused on Sayid.

"Two days ago," he continued, sending Sawyer a glare, "we take off from Sydney. We fly along the same northeast route every commercial airliner bound for Los Angeles does." He looked up from the stick he was holding to make sure everyone was following his explanation. "Now, the pilot, he said he lost communication with the ground, correct?" He turned toward Kate who was lounging next to Buffy.

"Yeah, six hours in," she answered, graciously accepting the water bottle that Buffy had handed her from her backpack. "He turned around and headed for Fiji."

"So, he changed course," he said, once again looking around at the group. "Regrettably, no one knew he changed course. The turbulence hit." He paused to put the fire on the stick out by grinding it into the dirt. "We know the rest." Dropping the stick to the ground, he moved back and sat down in his place between Shannon and Charlie.

"Yeah, but they'll find us," said Charlie, refusing to believe that they were stuck on the island. "They have satellites in space that take pictures of your license plate." He looked around the group, trying to find someone that would agree with him.

"If only we were all wearing license plates," replied Sayid, not looking into Charlie's eyes and instead staring into the fire.

"Well, aren't you the pessimist," responded Charlie, obviously annoyed that no one was sticking up for him.

"Basic photography," started Sayid, looking away from the fire and toward Charlie. "Point and shoot. Satellites can shoot, but they must be told where to point."

"Oh..." Charlie trailed off, finally understanding why his idea was not possible. "Bollocks."

"Okay, really enjoyed the puppet show," said Sawyer, causing all heads to turn in his direction. "Fantastic. So we're stuck in the middle of damn nowhere." He raised his hand and indicated into the vast darkness to make his point. "How about we talk about that other thing. You know, the transmission Abdul" – Sayid sent him a withering glare which he ignored – "picked up on his little radio. The French chick that said 'They're all dead.' The transmission's been on a loop for... how long was it, Freckles?" She gave him an exasperated look at the nickname, but answered him anyways.

"Sixteen years."

"Right," Sawyer said, giving her a charming smile that she returned with a raised eyebrow. "Let's talk about that." An uncomfortable silence ensued after his statement before Boone finally found his voice.

"Well, we have to tell the others when we get back."

"Tell them what exactly?" said Buffy from her place between Kate and Sawyer. She was lying on her back in the grass, playing with random twigs and leaves to calm her nerves.

"What we heard," responded Boone, looking around at the group.

"You didn't hear anything!" said Shannon loudly. "I'm not a stupid translator!"

"No one's going to tell them anything," interrupted Sayid, trying to prevent another argument between the step-siblings. "To relay what we heard without finally understanding it will cause a panic. If we tell them what we know, we take away their hope. And hope is a very dangerous thing to loose.

"So we lie," stated Buffy bluntly without looking up, disrupting the silence that had fallen over the group. They all continued to sit in silence, lost in thought, until they drifted off to sleep a short while later beside the fire. Intent on keeping a lookout, Buffy allowed herself to slip into only a light doze and woke up with a start when she felt someone walk by her. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes and looked up to see Boone walking over to where Sayid was sleeping.

"Hey!" she called, getting to her feet, when she saw that he had reached into the other man's pocked and extracted the gun clip. Her scream had woken Sayid who jumped up, causing Boone to back away from him, the clip in his hand.

"What are you doing?" asked Sayid, looking at Boone with narrowed eyes. By now, everyone had woken up and were on their feet, watching the scene with apprehension.

"I'm standing guard. You heard what they said's out there!" he said, pointing into the darkness with the gun.

"You took my gun off me, boy?" snarled Sawyer, eying the gun in Boon's hand.

"Please, you've never even held a gun," scoffed Shannon, looking straight at Boone with a condescending smile on her face. "He doesn't believe in guns," she added, turning back to the rest of the group. "He goes on marches."

"I don't go on marches," Boone responded indignantly.

"Give it back to me," interrupted Sayid, and all heads once again turned toward him.

"Oh, yeah, give it to Al-Jazeera," said Sawyer sarcastically, pointing at Sayid. "He'll protect us."

"Al-Jazeera's a network," Charlie added helpfully but no one paid him any attention.

"We should give to to her," said Shannon, pointing at Buffy. She looked around, seeing that everyone was now looking at her.

"I'll keep the damn gun," said Boone, annoyed that no one trusted him with the firearm.

"Uh... Wait... Guns and I are kind of un-mixy..." she trailed off, thinking of all of her failed attempts at trying to learn about guns. However, no one seemed to have heard her and were all agreeing.

"Yeah. Buffy should hold the gun," agreed Charlie. Kate and Shannon both nodded.

"Fine with me," added Sayid, looking to Buffy who was looking at all of them with her eyebrow raised. _Great_, she thought, sighing inwardly. _Give the Slayer a gun. Yeah, that'll turn out wonderfully_. But in spite of her worries, she nodded, looking expectantly at Boone. He didn't move. "Well?" Boone continued to look from Sawyer to Sayid before walking over to Buffy and handing her the gun and the clip. Accepting it, she popped the clip back into the gun, put the safety on, and slipped it into the waistband of her jeans.

The next morning after getting up, the small group of survivors put out the fire and headed off toward the beach. The journey was made in silence, as there was still tension present from the night before. Upon reaching the beach, Sayid gathered up all of the survivors, wanting to tell them of the group's findings.

"As you and the others know, we hiked up the mountain in an attempt to help the rescue team locate us. The transceiver failed to pick up a signal." There was a collective groan from the survivors. "We weren't able to send out a call for help." Another groan. "But we're not giving up. If we gather electronic equipment... your cell phones, laptops... I can boost the signal and we can try again. But that may take some time, so for now, we can try again. But that may take some time, so for now, we should begin rationing our remaining food. If it rains, we should set up tarps to collect water..."

Already having heard about the plan, Buffy separated herself from the group, looking down the beach and noticing Jack and Hurley whispering a small ways off. Knowing that she wouldn't be missing anything she hadn't already heard, she headed over, dropping her backpack at the foot of a tree and coming to a stop behind them without them noticing. She could distinctly hear the words "antibiotics," "dead bodies," and "overhead compartments."

"Hey guys, whatcha up to?" she said cheerfully, making Hurley jump and Jack turn toward her. He seemed relieved to see that it was her.

"Oh, hey Buffy," he greeted, giving her a smile. Hurley gave her a small wave which she gladly returned. "Good hike?"

"Meh, nothing too exciting, just went traipsing through a big-ass jungle filled with bears. Nothing new," she replied, looking at them a bit curiously. There was definitely something that they weren't telling her.

"Looking for some antibiotics for the marshal over there," Hurley jerked his thumb in the direction of a covered tent. She'd never been in there. _Ah_, she thought, _that's what they've been doing_.

"Care to join?" asked Jack. Buffy nodded, happy to get away from Sawyer and Sayid's bickering. "Hurley, Why don't you keep any eye on..." He pointed toward the medical tent.

"Great. Yeah, I'd love to. On it." Grabbing the out, Hurley turned and headed toward the tend, leaving Buffy and Jack staring at each other. Shrugging, they made for the jungle in search of the plane. A few minutes after entering the trees, Buffy spotted it, and she and Jack climbed in, shuddering a bit at the dark and morbid atmosphere. At once, they started searching through suitcases for medicine, wanting to get out of there as fast as possible. Spotting something familiar, Buffy made her way a small way down the plane, stopping in front of a red duffel bag. Her duffel bag.

"AHA! Yes!" she yelled, ecstatic that she had found some of her possessions.

"Find something?" she heard Jack ask, wondering if she had found some medicine.

"No medicine. Found my bag though!" she called back, clearly excited. Unzipping it and rifling around for a few moments, she looked around to make sure that Jack was far enough away so that he wouldn't she what she was doing. She pulled out a few stakes and a couple of knives, hiding a stake in her waistband along with her gun, a knife in her boot, and placing the rest back into the bag. Leaving her clothes and other things in the duffel bag, she zipped it up, swinging it over her shoulder and turning back toward Jack.

"Hey was that you?" he asked as she stepped up next to him. She looked at him, confused, but didn't say anything. "The rustling?" She shook her head, and Jack shrugged, turning back to the suitcase he was looking through. Pulling another down to the floor, Buffy started searching, too. _Thud_. Buffy and Jack looked at each other, both having heard it this time, before turning slowly behind them, not knowing what they were going to find. However, they didn't find anything threatening, just Sawyer who was looking at them, smirking.

"Boo," he said, looking from Buffy to Jack. Buffy let out a breath in relief, and looking at Jack, saw that he had done the same thing.

"What are you doing here?" asked Jack, looking at Sawyer warily.

"Trick-or-treatin'..." he responded, holding up a duffel bag. "Same as you."

"So... you're stealing..." said Buffy, raising an eye at his casual demeanor.

"Ah, Princess. You say po-tay-to, I say po-tah-to," he said, flashing Buffy one of his charming smiles.

"What's in the bag?" asked Jack, eying the duffel bag suspiciously.

"Booze, smokes, a couple Playboys. What's in yours?"

"Medicine," he answered matter-of-factly, looking at Sawyer in disgust.

"Well, that just about sums it up, don't it?" said Sawyer, looking toward Buffy and noticing her bag, raised an eyebrow.

"Mine," she said simply.

"You do this back home, too? Steal from the dead?" she heard Jack ask. Sawyer riped his gaze away from her and turned back toward the other man.

"Brother, you got to wake up and smell the gull crap here. Rescue ain't coming." He moved closer to Jack. "You're just waisting your time, trying to save a guy who, last time I checked, had a piece of metal the size of my head sticking out of his bread basket." Pause. "Let me ask you something. How many of those pills are you going to use to fix him up?"

"As many as it takes," he answered. Buffy wouldn't have expected him to answer any other way.

"Yeah? How many you got?" retorted Sawyer. Jack didn't answer; the point Sawyer was trying to make sinking in. "You're just not looking at the big picture, Doc. You're still back in civilization."

"Yeah?" asked Jack, watching as Sawyer picked up his bag and headed toward the entrance of the plane. "And where are you?"

"Me?" he asked, smiling. "I'm in the wild. See ya around, Princess." With a wink at Buffy, he jumped out of the wreckage, leaving Jack and Buffy staring after him. Without another word, Jack and Buffy returned to their search, finding only a hand full of pill bottles. Feeling slightly defeated, they headed back to the beach, and saw that it had started to rain. Seeing that Sayid and a few others were attempting to secure a tarp to catch the rain, she turned toward Jack.

"I'm going to go help Sayid!" she yelled over the pounding of the rain and the crashing of thunder. Without waiting for him to respond, she ran toward the small group of people, assuming that Jack was going to go check on the marshal. Seeing that the tarp was flapping in the wind, she launched herself into the air, grabbing the edge, and holding it firmly so that Sayid and the other men could tie it down. After she was sure that it was secure, she nodded to the small group before wandering off, the rain cooling her heated skin.

Seeing that people were running around trying to find shelter, she decided that she should make one of her own. Noticing a couple of long, thin logs, she grabbed two and went in search of a patch of sand that hadn't been hit by the rain. Finding a small, dry, area, she drove the logs into the sand before taking an abandoned tarp and throwing it over the two longs so that it formed a tent. Finding a few more little sticks, she pinned down the edges so that the tarp would not fly away before stepping back to examine her handiwork. Smiling at her accomplishment, she gathered her backpack and duffel bag before settling down in the tent she had made. Changing into a dry pair of black jogging pants and a tank top, she laid down on the sand, finally realizing how tired she was from all that had happened over the past couple of days. Curling up into a ball, she let the patter of the rain lull her to sleep.

--------------------------

She awoke early the next afternoon to the pained cries of who she assumed to be the marshal. Getting to her feet and peering out of the tent, she realized that it had stopped raining and the sun was once again shining. Pulling on a pair of tennis shoes, she grabbed the gun and a knife, slipping them into the waistband of her jogging pants before exiting the tent, bringing her hand to her face to protect her eyes from the bright sun.

"Hey, Kate," she greeted, seeing the other woman picking up firewood along the beach.

"Buffy," she responded giving her a small smile. "Will you help me gather some more wood? Fire's running a bit low."

"Yeah, sure, I'm on it." Heading back toward the line of trees, she started gathering wood, knowing that all of the wood on the beach would be soaked to its core. Reaching out to pick up a piece, she was startled when a hand came out of nowhere, lifting it off the ground before she could reach it. Looking up, she saw Sawyer holding the piece of wood and looking down at her. He held it out, which she accepted, looking at him rather suspiciously. "Um... thanks."

"Came by to thank you." Pause. "You gonna ask what for?"

"What for?" asked Buffy, slightly annoyed but played along for the moment.

"For taking that gun away from me." He looked at her with a weird expression on his face. "Sure wouldn't want to be the one with that gun right now. 'Cause everyone sitting out there listening to that poor boy scream all night knows what's got to be done. Only one that can do it is the one with that gun." He pulled out a cigarette and lit it, ignoring her glare at the offending object. "Hell, there's only one bullet left. Be damn near poetic." Blowing a line of smoke past her head, he turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Buffy to her thoughts. _That's stupid_, she thought, _like hell I'd shoot that marshal_. Waving his advice aside, she finished gathering an arm full of wood and headed back to the beach to give it to Kate.

"Hey," Buffy greeted, setting down the logs next to the Kate.

"Oh hey," she said, looking up from the log she was attempting to set on fire. Pause. "Hey, can I have that gun?" At Buffy's raised eyebrow, she hastened to explain herself. "I'm going to give to it Jack. He seems like the person who should hold onto it." Buffy regarded the older woman for a few moments but shrugged off her suspicions. Why would Kate lie about something like that?

"Yeah, sure," she replied, pulling the gun from the back of her pants, taking care not to show the knife also hidden there, and handing it to Kate. "Knock yourself out."

"Thanks," Kate said with a smile, taking the gun and abandoning the fire to walk toward the medical tent. Turning to the log, Buffy grabbed a handful of dry grass, picking up where Kate left off. A couple minutes later, she was sitting beside a roaring fire, extremely surprised and pleased that she had gotten it to light. Not seeing anything that she could help with, she retreated a bit further down the beach so that she could have some alone time.

A few hours later, a short while after it had gotten dark, Buffy laid sprawled on the sand next to the fire, her hands resting under her head. She had just finished a meal of seafood that Jin had provided her with and was content to let her stomach settle. No one had talked to her since Kate, but she didn't mind, preferring to spend the time by herself so that she could think some things over.Suddenly, out of the middle of nowhere, she heard a gunshot from the direction of the tent that Kate had headed off to. Jumping up from the sand and sprinting toward the direction of the noise, she arrived in time to see Kate walking away and Sawyer exiting the tent, gun in hand.

"What did you do?" yelled Jack, grabbing Sawyer by the front of his shirt. He easily freed himself and moved away, glaring at Jack.

"What you couldn't," he said simply. Jack moved to get bast him, but Sawyer stopped him by grabbing his arm. "Look, I get where you're coming from being a doctor and all. But he wanted it. Hell, he asked me. So I don't like it any more than you do, but something had to be done." Coughing sounded from the tent, causing Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, and Buffy to turn toward it.

"Oh, no way!" said Hurley.

"Crap..." Buffy trailed off, thinking the same thing that he was. Looking back at Sawyer, she saw that he was horrified by what he was hearing. Jack made another move to enter the tent. This time, Sawyer didn't try to stop him. Glancing at him before entering the tent after Jack, she fell to her knees, grabbing a few clean tissues and pressing them to his wound while Jack assessed the damage that Sawyer had done.

"You shot him in the chest?" asked Jack, furious, gesturing for Buffy to let up pressure so that he could assess the gunshot. At his nod, she pressed the tissues back to the wound.

"I was aiming for his heart," replied Sawyer, sounding pained.

"Well, apparently you missed!" snapped Buffy, extremely pissed that Kate lied about what she was going to do with the gun.

"Man, is he still breathing?" asked Hurley from the doorway, not wanting to step foot into the tent.

"You perforated his lung," replied Jack, shooting Sawyer a look. "It'll take hours to bleed out."

"There was..." Sawyer started, obviously upset at what he had done. "I only had one bullet."

"Get out," growled Jack. When Sawyer didn't move, he tried again. "Get out!" Sawyer stood there for a few moments, staring at the marshal before turning and exiting the tent.

"Oh, god, oh, god, what do we do?" asked Buffy frantically, eyes wide at the marshal's continued cries and gasps and the blood flowing from beneath her fingers.

"Nothing," replied Jack, taking the tissues from Buffy's hands and replacing them with new ones. "We can't do anything." Buffy stood up, feeling helpless, and looked down at herself. She her hands and tank top were covered in blood, and she was sweating. Bringing her arm to her forehead to wipe away a bit of sweat, she didn't notice that she left a long, red mark behind. Suddenly, the marshal's gasps and labored breathing ceased, plunging the tent into uneasy silence. Sighing, she looked from Jack to the marshal before leaving the tent, seeing that Sawyer was standing close by, watching her as she exited. She gave him a look before walking away, but didn't say anything. Spotting Kate hovering a few tents away, she walked up to her and fixed her with a hard gaze.

"If I'd had know that you were going to use the gun for that, I wouldn't have given it to you," Buffy said, sending her a hard gaze. Without another word, she walked away, leaving a speechless Kate behind her. Setting herself down in the sand close to the water, she felt Jack sit down beside her. "I had the gun," she said, squinting into the dark ocean, avoiding his gaze.

"What?"

"I had the gun," she repeated, turning toward him and sighing. "Sayid and Sawyer were fighting over it, so I took it. This afternoon, Kate asked me if she could have it. Said she was going to give it to you. And I did."

"It wasn't your fault," he said, brushing her arm with his in a gesture of comfort, realizing that she believed that she had been responsible for the marshal's death. "You couldn't have known."

"Yeah... I guess," she trailed off, looking back at the ocean and wondering, after all she had seen in her years as a Slayer, how could one death affect her so much.


	4. Walkabout

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or LOST. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon, and LOST belongs to J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof. I'm just a poor college student playing around with the characters. The plot pretty much belongs to J.J. and Damon, as I'm just taking existing LOST episodes and inserting Buffy into them. A large amount of dialog is taken from the episode itself. Episode transcripts taken from twiztv.

justjane: Thanks for your review! I'm glad you're liking it so far! Glad you like my characterization of Buffy! I tried to make her a bit more complex, as I feel she would be a bit more mature a year after the finale.

Cylon One: Glad you're liking it! I'll take that as a complement!

xXxIzzyxXx: I'm pretty sure that was from the show, so props to JJ for that! Glad you're liking it so far!

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Feeling something run past her, Buffy woke up with a start, glancing around and noticing that it was Vincent the dog that had passed her. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she looked around, seeing that she had once again fallen asleep on the sand beside the fire and that all of the other survivors were out of their tents and looking toward the fuselage. Trying to ignore Vincent's incessant barking, she trained all of her senses on the sounds coming from the fuselage, finally deciphering loud growling and a loud clanking noise. Seeing Jack, Sawyer, Sayid, Kate, and Clair clustered in a small group, she pushed herself up from the sand and walked over to them.

"Someone's in there," she heard Claire whisper, voice trembling slightly in fear.

"Everyone in there's dead," Sayid answered, not looking at her and instead gazing toward the noise.

"Sawyer," said Jack, narrowing his eyes slightly. Sawyer opened his mouth to make one of his usual smart-ass comments, but Buffy interrupted, not wanting another fight to break out between the two.

"He's right here. What's going on?" she asked, reaching the group and giving Jack a small smile.

"One of us has to go see what that is..." he trailed off, looking down and reaching into his pocket to pull out a small pen light.

"Jack," Kate said in a warning voice, knowing what he was thinking.

"Well, you know you can count me in," answered Buffy with a smile, looking back and forth between the members of the group. When no one objected, she strode off toward the wreckage, not needing a flashlight to see through the mild darkness. The shuffling sound of footsteps and the large beam of light from Sawyer's flashlight told her that the small group was following her, but she didn't say anything. Reaching the entrance of the plane, she squinted at the pitch-black interior, hearing something moving around and wanting to know what it was.

"I'm gonna shed some light on this..." Sawyer started to say, and before she could do anything to stop him, he had shone the light into the wreckage. She immediately smacked his hand aside in an attempt to stop it before the creature saw it, but she had no such luck. The creature turned and growled at them, its eyes reflecting white from the light from the flashlight.

"Crap! Run!" shouted Buffy, pushing Sawyer away from the plane and toward the beach. Reaching where the other survivors were looking on in interest, she could her Jack yelling at them to run, and they scattered, looking for protection from the creatures. Seeing that everyone was sufficiently hidden from the creatures, Buffy stopped running and dropped into a fighting stance, ignoring Jack's yelling for her to get out of the way. Feeling that it was her duty to protect these people, she stood her ground as three boars came hurtling out of the fuselage and onto the beach. Raising an eyebrow, she stood up straight, watching them run toward the jungle in amusement, walking back toward the others when they leaped into the bushes.

"Is everyone okay?" she heard someone ask, and nodded, brushing away a strand of hair that had fallen into her face.

"What were you thinking?" growled Sawyer, coming up to her and grabbing her arm, swinging her around to face him. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"What were _you_ thinking?" she growled right back, wrenching her arm from his grasp and giving him a harsh glare. "Killing that marshal? What I just did was clearly not the stupidest thing someone's done in the past few days." Sending one last look of contempt, she turned her back on him, re-joining the group of survivors gathered around Jack.

"What the bloody hell was that?" asked Charlie, wiping the sweat off his face. Seeing how nervous he was, Buffy gave him a reassuring smile which he quickly returned.

"Boars," answered Locke, staring out into the jungle with a smile. Buffy just looked at him quizzically before dispersing with the rest of the group. She followed Jack, Sayid, Charlie, and Kate to the medical tent, entering and seeing that Jack was already tending to a small cut on Charlie's shoulder.

"Those boars were looking to feed," said Jack, nodding to Buffy as she entered before returning to Charlie's cut. "We have to get rid of the bodies."

"Bury them?" suggested Charlie, pausing when he winced slightly from the sting of the antiseptic that Jack had poured on his wound. "There's a while bunch in there."

"More than twenty." Sayid and Kate were standing on the sidelines, watching Jack intently. "Digging will be difficult without shovels."

"Not bury," Jack stated, finishing with Charlie and looking up at the three standing. "We need to burn them." At this statement, the room went quiet and Buffy could tell that they all disapproved of this idea.

"They're people," said Kate bluntly, not moving her eyes from Jack's.

"I know they're people, Kate," he answered, packing up his medical supplies and putting them aside.

"Burning the remains. They deserve better than that," said Sayid, obviously not liking this idea any more than Kate. Before Jack could explain, Buffy answered for him.

"He's right." They all turned to look at her, and she kept going. "You all know what's out there. It's only so long before something else comes over to eat those bodies. If we bury them, it'll only be a matter of time before boars or something worse" — she gave them a meaningful look — "comes and digs them up. Burying them puts us all at a larger risk."

"What you say may be true, but for us to decide how these people are laid to rest?" Sayid asked, looking from Jack to Buffy and back. "It's not right. No regard for their wishes? Their religions?"

"We don't have time to sort out everybody's God," said Jack bluntly.

"Really?" asked Charlie skeptically, giving Jack an offended look. "Last I heard, we were positively made of time."

"What he means is," Buffy started, wanting to halt the argument before it began, "is that we don't have a lot of time before those bodies starting decomposing. The smell'll become stronger and then for all we know, everything on this freaking island might come to see what it is."

"Look, I'm not happy about this either," said Jack, attempting to step back in order to avoid disagreement. "But we crashed a thousand miles off course. They're looking for us in the wrong place. It's been four days. No one's come. Tomorrow morning, we need everyone to start gathering up wood, dried brush. We're gonna turn that fuselage into a furnace. Wait until the sun goes down tomorrow night before we set the fire." Finishing his speech, he stood up and exited the tent, leaving the others staring after him.

"If he's so eager to burn the bodies, why are we waiting til sundown?" asked Charlie turning toward Buffy.

"He's hoping someone'll see it," she answered before smiling slightly and exiting the tent after Jack. Emerging on the beach, she squinted, realizing that the sun had already started to rise. Seeing Sawyer and Hurley wrestling around on the ground, she sighed, making her way over to them in order to break it up. _Great_, she thought, _I'm on an island full of mystical creatures and all my Slayer strength is being used to save that idiot from getting his ass beaten_.

"Alright guys!" Boone was yelling as she approached, attempting to pull Sawyer off of Hurley. "Knock it off!" Hurley and Sawyer were both clutching a backpack and both seemingly unwilling to let go.

"You're not happy unless you're screwing over-..." started Hurley before he was interrupted.

"Hey!" shouted Sawyer," I'm peachy, pork pie!"

"Guys!" Boone tried again, to no avail. "Knock it off!"

"Stay out of this, metro!" growled Sawyer, pushing Boone so that he staggered slightly. Annoyed that he was so quick to hit someone who was trying to help, Buffy walked up to him, grabbing his arm and pulling, sending him flying into the sand. "Like it rough, don't you, Princess?" he said, eying her suggestively. Before she could retort, Jack appeared, keeping a hand on Sawyer's chest so that he couldn't attack Hurley.

"Hey! What's going on?"

"Jethro here's hoarding the last of the peanuts," said Hurley, glaring at Sawyer, who turned his attention from Buffy and glared right back.

"My own stash. I found it in there," he answered, pointing in the direction of the fuselage.

"What about the rest of the food," Jack asked, looking back and forth between Hurley and Sawyer.

"There is no rest of the food, Dude," said Hurley. "We kinda... ate it all." A sound of panic erupted from the group of survivors and Buffy groaned, thinking that the food should have lasted longer than it had.

"Okay, everybody, just calm down," said Jack, raising his hands and attempting to restore order.

"We can find food," Sayid added, stepping forward to help Jack. "There are plenty of things on this island we can use for sustenance."

"And exactly how are we gonna find this sustenance?" asked Sawyer in is usual sarcastic tone of voice and sat down on an airline chair that had somehow gotten onto the beach. Out of nowhere, a knife came whizzing through the crowd and embedded in the seat next to Sawyer's head, causing him to jump slightly. Buffy turned and noticed that a tall, bald man was standing right behind her. All heads turned to him.

"We hunt," the man said. Buffy walked over to were Sawyer was sitting and wrenched the knife out of the chair, impressed at how deep in it had gone. She turned around and walked over to the man, holding the knife out to him.

"How'd you get that knife on the plane?" Kate asked, looking at him with a slight frown.

"Checked it," he replied, continuing with his monosyllabic answers. He took the knife from Buffy.

"You either have very good aim or..." — Jack glanced back at Sawyer — "...or very bad aim, Mr..." He trailed off, hoping that the man would answer for him.

"Locke," answered Michael and everyone turned away from Locke toward him. "His name is Locke."

"Okay, Mr. Locke, what is it that we're hunting?" Jack continued.

"We know there are wild boar on the island," Locke explained, looking around at the crowd. "Razorbacks, by the look of them. The ones that came into the camp last night were piglets. Hundred... hundred-fifty pounds each. Which means that there's a mother nearby... a two hundred-fifty pound rat with scimitar-like tusks and a surly disposition who'd love nothing more to eviscerate anything that comes near. A boar's usual mode of attack is to circle around and charge from behind, so i figure it will take at least three of us to distract her long enough for me to flank one of the piglets, pin it, and slit its throat." _Man, this guy really knows his stuff_, thought Buffy, raising an eyebrow in appreciation. The others, however, didn't seem as impressed and were looking at him with looks of disgust on their faces.

"And you gave him his knife back?" asked Sawyer sarcastically, shooting Buffy a look.

"Oh, please. Like you've got a better idea," she retorted, sending him a glare.

"Better than three of you wandering into the Magic forest to bag a hunk of ham with nothing but a little-bitty hunting knife? Hell, no. Best idea I ever had." Everyone turned toward Locke, who stepped aside and nudged open a metal case to reveal six additional hunting knives. They all look at him, not knowing what to think of this man. Buffy grinned, taking in the new stash of weapons and potential slaying buddy that she had access to. A few minutes later, the group had dispersed, and Buffy followed Locke over to a portion of the beach close to the entrance to the jungle.

"Hey," she greeted, and he smiled back at her, setting down the case and beginning to sharpen some of the knives. "So how did you learn all of this? Hunting and knife-throwing and all that."

"I was training for a walkabout tour," he answered, still looking down at his knives. Buffy had no idea what that was, but he didn't offer a further explanation, so she dropped it.

"So this boar-hunting expedition, I'm coming with you," she said. She knew he was about to refuse, but wasn't going to let that stop her.

"I don't think that'd such a good idea," he said, looking up at her.

"Before you say no, lemme show you what I can do." He paused but after a second, made a go-ahead gesture with his hand. Smiling, she grabbed a knife out of the case and walked over to the tree, carving three x's into the wood. Walking the fifteen feet back toward him, she took aim, throwing the knife and watching it hit the middle of one of the x's. Grabbing two more knives, she threw them toward the tree, also hitting the desired marks. Clearly pleased with her self, she turned to find Locke staring at her in amazement. "So, can I come?" At his nod, she smiled, grabbing one of the sharpened knives and slipped it through her belt, leaving to find Michael.

Twenty minutes later, the three had entered the jungle, and were following the tracks of the three piglets that had raced through the campsite earlier. Locke kneeled down and scraped the ground with the tip of his knife, causing Buffy and Michael to stop behind him.

"You find something?" asked Michael, having absolutely no clue about hunting. Locke stood up and looked at him.

"The ground here had been routed up, that's how boars get the majority of their food. They dig. Afterwards, they generally wallow in the dirt and rub up against the trees, scoring it with their tusks."

"Okay..." Michael trailed off, not knowing what this meant. "So what's all that mean?"

"It means we're close," answered Buffy patiently, smiling at him and heading off in the direction that the boars went. A few minutes later, Buffy was still leading the way, Locke behind her, and Michael bringing up the rear. Hearing a low growling noise coming from the bush in front of her, she stopped, motioning for the other two to do the same thing. Locke walked slight in front of her and bent down, checking the scoring marks a tree nearby. Looking back and Buffy and Michael, he motions for them to take out their knives and pulls out his own. Signaling for Buffy to go forward and for Michael to move around the back, to which they both nod, he finally points to his own eye.

"Hey!" said Michael loudly, clearly annoyed. "Quit giving us the steal signal." Suddenly the squealing and the grunting got extremely loud, and boar burst through the bushes and rushed straight at Michael. Quickly Locke grabbed Buffy around the waist, sending them to the ground and away from the piglet, but Michael had no such luck. As he turned to run, it ran straight into him at full force, knocking him to the ground. Now laying flat on his back, he moaned, causing Buffy to leap up from the ground and rush toward him.

"God," he groaned, looking down at the bleeding gash in his leg.

"Ah, shit," said Buffy quietly, peeling off the button down shirt she was wearing over a tank top and wrapping it around the wound to try and stop the bleeding. "That's all I can do for now. We need to get you back to Jack asap. We'll just get Locke and..." she trailed off looking for Locke, who was still lying on his back in the dirt.

"John?" she asked, walking over to him and kneeling. "Can you hear me?" He didn't answer, just blinked confusedly at her. "Locke! John, are you okay?" Concerned, she watched as he looked down at his shoes and then started to stand up. "Uh... Locke?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm fine, Helen. I just got the wind knocked out of me is all," he said, standing up and brushing the dirt off of his clothing.

"Helen?" she asked, looking at him quizzically and grabbing his arm in an attempt to get him moving in the direction of the beach. Hearing a moan, she looked over to see Michael still lying on the ground, clutching his leg.

"What?" Locke asked, continuing to look at her in confusion. She walked over to where Michael was and took his hand.

"You called me Helen," Buffy answered, lifting Michael, who was continuing to grunt in pain, up off of the ground, throwing one of his arms around her shoulders, completely supporting his weight with hers.

"Did I?" Pause. "Which way'd that boar go?"

"No, Michael's hurt, we gotta get him back to Jack before he looses any more blood," she answered impatiently, annoyed that he wasn't getting how hurt Michael was.

"Yeah, you take him back to camp," answered John, now seeming to understand what was going on. "I'm gonna get that boar."

"Are you high? Michael's hurt! We can come back and hunt this after!" she said, now practically yelling to try and get the message through to him.

"I'm fine, I can do this," he answered, turning and heading off into the jungle after the boar.

"Wait! John! Stop!" He didn't listen to her, and pretty soon, she could barely see him through the brush. Knowing that she couldn't go after him with Michael, she turned, heading back to the beach. "God dammit... C'mon, Michael, can you walk? Let's get you back to Jack."

"Yeah, I think so," he answered and the two started toward the beach, Buffy still supporting most of his weight. He was in too much pain to question how she could hold him up, being so little, and she didn't bring it up. A while later, they emerged from the jungle, Michael panting a bit at the effort, and Buffy noticed that a small group was clustered in front of where they exited.

"C'mon, just a bit further... You're doing good..." she said encouragingly, steering them toward Hurley, Walt, and Sun. When they catch sight of the two, Hurley and Walt rush over to help the two.

"Dad!" cried Walt, clearly happy to see that his father had made it out of the jungle alive but stopping once he realized that he was hurt.

"So, like, what happened out there?" asked Hurley, grabbing Michael's other arm and throwing it over his shoulder.

"Hey? You got him?" Buffy asked him, gently sliding Michael's arm off of her. "I'm gonna go find Jack." At his nod, she left the group, searching up and down the beach for the doctor.

"The mighty huntress returns," Sawyer said as she passed by him. "What's for dinner, honey?"

"Now how," she said curtly, brushing past him and running over to where Jack was sitting with Rose. "Jack!" She ran up to him. "Hey! Michael's hurt! We need you to you know... fix him. Sorry, Rose!" Grabbing his wrist, she pulled him off of the sand, sprinting toward the medical tent. "In here," she added, pushing him in. Satisfied that she got Jack to the tent, she wandered over to Sawyer, but before he could open his mouth, she cut him off.

"Look, I sort of hate you. You killed a guy, and truthfully, you're sort of a jack-ass. But I need something from you," she said bluntly, causing him to look at her in shock.

"I only did it because I didn't want him to suffer any more." He looked down quickly, but Buffy had seen the guilt in his eyes. She tilted her head and frowned slightly at this show of emotion, but a second later, he seemed to snap out of it. "So, what do you want, Princess?"

"I need your flashlight," she said, holding out her hand expectantly.

"Really? What for?" he asked, shooting her a grin.

"I'm going back out there to find Locke. And if I gets dark, I can't see. Hence, flashlight," she looked up at him, and he frowned back.

"There's no way in hell you're going out there alone."

"Like you're going to stop me? Someone needs to go find him! He's out there all by himself!" she said, attempting to move past him into his tent to find the flashlight.

"Nuh-uh, none of that, now," he said, grabbing her by the waist and dragging her away from his tent. "You're not going, that's final."

"What are you? My father?" she asked, annoyed that he was touching her.

"Would you like me to be?" he countered, sending her a wink, making her glare at him.

"You are disgusting, you vile, little-..."

"Hey! Buffy!" She turned to see Kate running toward her. "Locke's back! He's alive!" With a glare at Sawyer, she slipped out of his grasp and followed Kate toward a small group clustered around Locke who was holding a boar.

A few hours later, the survivors were gathered in front of the burning fuselage. Clare had taken charge of the services for the dead, and she was flanked on either side by Hurley and Boone. Hurley was holding a few of the deceased's personal items and Boone was holding a torch.

"Judith Martha Wexler. From Denton, Texas. I guess she was gonna catch a connecting flight. Um... she wore corrective lenses, and she was an organ donor. Or at least would have been." She handed Hurley the piece of paper and he handed her a journal in return. "I don't know their last names, but, uh... they were really in love and were gonna be married. At least wherever they are now, they're not alone." Not wanting to hear any more of this, Buffy backed out from the crowd, walking away from the fire and into the darkness down the beach. Looking off into the water, she spotted a figure sitting alone in the sand a small distance away. Walking closer and seeing that it was Jack, she sat down next to him without a word, not even looking over at him, but simply sitting with him, both quietly mourning in their own way.

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Okay, that was a bit of a short one and not all that exciting, but wanted to stick to the script. I am thinking about changing some of the events from LOST as not to make it too predictable, but I'm a bit hesitant, as I don't really want to change anything that's essential to the current or future plot. But I'll see and hopefully, I can change something!

Anyhoo, hope you enjoyed and leave me a review on your way out!


	5. White Rabbit

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or LOST. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon, and LOST belongs to J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof. I'm just a poor college student playing around with the characters. The plot pretty much belongs to J.J. and Damon, as I'm just taking existing LOST episodes and inserting Buffy into them. A large amount of dialog is taken from the episode itself. Episode transcripts taken from twiztv.

So, I'm posting another chapter because I have to get my wisdom teeth pulled tomorrow and I don't know when I'll be up to writing another one... Ew, I am so not looking forward to this...

Thanks to faxness-rulz, urangel, xXxIzzyxXx for your wonderful reviews! I'm glad you're liking this story so far! I'm not quite sure about a pairing yet, but we'll see!

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"Help! Help!"

Before anyone else could move, Buffy was half way down the beach, sprinting toward the water and toeing off her shoes as she ran. In the background, she could hear Charlie yelling for Jack, but all that she was concentrating on was the high-pitch scream of the figure that was flailing about fifty feet out. Splashing through the shallow water, she dove in head first once it was deep enough to swim. Breaking for air with a gasp, she squinted, whipping her head around until she caught sight of something splashing around in the water. Flying through the water as fast as she could, it took her about a minute to reach the person.

"Hey! Hey you're okay!" she screamed to be heard over the lapping of the waves, grabbing Boone around the waist, calming his struggling. He was coughing and gasping for breath and she was panting with the effort of swimming such a long distance in such a short amount of time. "Just breathe."

"Did..." he started, gasping and leading against her, "... you get her?"

"I... what?" she asked, slightly alarmed, not knowing what he was talking about.

"There was a woman... I was trying... Did you get her?" Sure enough, after he had finished speaking, Buffy heard another scream and spun around to see another figure struggling in the water.

"Hang on, I don't have time to bring you back..." she said, already heading off in the direction of the woman, dragging Boone after her. She was slightly slower with all of his weight on her, but she still moved faster than the average person. A few moments later, she reached the woman, but to Buffy's horror, she had stopped struggling and was just floating there. Grabbing the woman by the arm and still keeping her arm wrapped around Boone, she struggled slightly with their combined weight, swimming back to shore even slower than before. Suddenly, she saw Jack swimming toward her. "Hey! Jack!"

"Is she..." he said, looking at the woman doubtfully and moving to take her from Buffy.

"No, I can swim faster," she said, positioning Boone so that Jack could grab a hold of her. "Get him to shore." Without waiting for his response, she took off once again for the beach, swimming so fast that she was gasping for breath and her muscles screamed in protest, trying her hardest to keep the woman's head above water.

Feeling the sand under her feet, Buffy dragged her onto the sand, laying her on the ground once she was clear of the waves. There was a crowd gathered around her, but she didn't pay any attention, quickly tilting the woman's head up and placed her ear to her mouth to check for any signs of breathing. There were none. Without a seconds hesitation, Buffy pinched the woman's nose and blew two breaths into the woman's mouth before leaning back and compressing her chest a few times. Nothing. She tried again. Nothing. The third time, she got the desired response; the woman started coughing up water, gasping for breath, and Buffy turned her on her side so that she wouldn't choke. From there, Jack, who had arrived at the beach with Boone, took over, looking over the woman to make sure that she was alright.

Relieved that the woman was okay, Buffy flopped onto her back in the sand, panting and trying to catch her breath. She stayed like this for a few moments until her breathing became even and the muscles in her legs stopped burning. She opened her eyes to see that there was still a circle formed around her, Jack, Boone, and the woman, and she stood up, wanting to get away from the crowd. If she stayed around, they would start asking questions. Standing up and reaching the edge of the circle, she found that a path had parted and she walked through without a word, wanting to return to her tent and change into some dry clothes. However, before she could reach her tent, she felt a hand on her arm and turned to see Boone standing there with a towel in his hand.

"Thanks," she said, smiling and taking the towel when he reached out his hand to offer it to her.

"I should be thanking you," he said, returning her smile and removing his hand from her arm. "You saved my life."

"Ah don't mention it," she said with a casual wave of her hand. "Hey, why don't we both change into some dry clothes and then we can talk...?" At his nod, she entered her tent and stripped off her clothes, drying herself with the towel before slipping into a clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Emerging from her tent, drying her hair with the towel, she spotted him, clean and try, walking toward him.

"Hey," he greeted, giving her a small wave.

"Hey yourself." She smiled back. Looking down the beach, she saw that everyone was still gathered and a few were looking over at her. "Why don't we... uh... go somewhere where everyone isn't starting at me like I grew a second head." She led him a little bit away from the group before plopping down on the ground and digging her feet into the sand. "Hey, you okay?" she asked, noticing that he was being rather quiet.

"I... I just... what was I thinking trying to be a hero?" he said, not looking at her and instead playing with a small mound of sand by her foot. "I mean, you saw what happened. She could have died because you had to rescue me first. I don't know what I would have done if..."

"Hey," she gently cut him off, causing him to look up at her. "You did an extremely brave thing. Risking your life for someone else's? Not many people would have done that."

"I guess," he answered, going back to staring at his hands. "How did you do that?" She looked over at him curiously. "Swim so fast. I've never seen anyone move that fast. And while you were supporting both of us, too."

"I was on the swim team in high school," she lied easily, not ready for anyone to know what she was. "And it was probably a freak adrenaline thing." However, she was saved from having to explain further when the woman that she had rescued walked up to them.

"Hi," she started, looking slightly nervous but clearly grateful. "I'm... um... Joanna. I wanted to thank you for... well, for saving my life. I... went swimming and got caught in the riptide..."

"Don't mention it," said Buffy, offering her a small smile. "I'm just glad that you're alright." She stood up, her moment with Boone sufficiently disrupted. "C'mon lets go see what's going on over there." The survivors were once again grouped, but this time in a different location. Buffy led them over to the group and once they got there, they split up, Buffy walking over to Jack, Boone moving toward Shannon, and Joanna disappearing into the crowd.

"Hey," she greeted as she reached Jack's side; he looked worried and Buffy frowned. _Oh crap, what now?_ she thought. "What's up?"

"We're running out of water," he said stonily, looking up at her.

"We... we what?" she asked, not believing what Jack was telling her. "We're on an island, can't we just... you know... find some more?" Jack nodded absently, but seemed to be in no condition to talk any more, so Buffy left him alone, walking down to the water and wading until it reached her ankles.

"Hey! Hey!" She turned to see Walt running toward her, looking slightly panicked.

"Walt? What's the matter?" she asked, leaving the water to meet him half way. "Are you alright?"

"That pregnant lady fell down!" he said, pointing toward Michael and Charlie who were a few yards away, carrying Claire between them. She rushed over to them, stopping once she was close enough.

"What happened?"

"She just dropped," said Charlie, looking concerned for the pregnant woman.

"Must have been the heat," added Michael. "Let's get her inside." Buffy rushed them toward the medical tent, holding the flap back so that they could carry her inside and lay her down on the ground.

"Claire?" Buffy tried, bringing her hand up to wipe the hair from Claire's forehead. "Claire? Wake up. Come on, Claire. Wake up. Claire!" She slapped her face lightly and smiled when Claire opened her eyes. "Hey, it's Buffy. Are you alright?"

"What?" Claire asked, clearly confused about how she got into the tent. She tried to sit up, but Buffy gently pushed her back.

"Hey, take it easy, okay? You passed out." Buffy turned toward Charlie. "She needs water, see if you can get some?" She pressed her hand to Claire's forehead and noticed that it was hot. "She has a fever, Michael, get some wet towels." Michael left the tent to follow her orders.

"What the hell?" she heard Charlie ask and turned around to see that the case was empty. "The water's gone."

"No, stay really still, okay? You need to stay still," Buffy said, as Claire had made another move to get up. "What do you mean there's no more water?"

"Someone stole it," Charlie answered, looking back and forth between Claire and the empty case.

"Okay, Charlie?" Buffy said, and he turned to face her. "I need you to stay here with her, okay?" He nodded. "I'm going to go find Jack." At his nod, she left the tent, spotting Sayid, Locke, and Kate standing a few feet away. "Hey! Guys! Have you seen Jack?" They all turned at the sound of her voice and she ran up to them.

"I don't know," answered Kate, looking at her in confusion. "No one can find him. What's wrong?"

"Someone stole the water," she answered, scanning the beach in hopes of seeing Jack just walking along. "And Claire needs it, she fainted and now she has a heavy fever."

"Was this the last of the camp's water supply?" asked Sayid, but she barely heard him as she was still scanning the beach for any sign of Jack.

"Yeah," Kate answered for her, already knowing that they had hid the remainder of the water.

"Keeping it all in one place... foolish," Sayid said and Buffy glared at him.

"Yeah, thanks, that's not really helping now," she said, irritated that he was making this obvious comment when something needed to be done.

"I can go into the jungle," Kate started, looking at Buffy, "try and find some fresh water."

"You're not going alone," said Sayid, and Buffy inwardly agreed with him. However, before Kate could open her mouth to argue, Locke interrupted her.

"I'll go. Camp needs you three here, especially with the doctor gone. And besides, I know where to look." With a smile, he turned and left, leaving Sayid, Buffy, and Kate staring after him. A second later, Hurley ran over to the group, panting slightly at the effort.

"Uh..." he started, and they all looked at him expectantly. "The Chinese people have water."

"I think they're Korean but..." Buffy trailed off, realizing what she was saying. "Nevermind, c'mon let's check it out." They walked over to where Jin and Sun were standing, and Sayid grabbed an empty water bottle from the sand and stepped in front of Sun.

"Where did you get this?" he asked quietly. Nothing. "Where did you get this?" Nothing; clearly he was getting annoyed. "Where did you get..." he started to yell.

"Hey!" Buffy said, stepping in between them and giving him a gentle shove back. "She doesn't understand you."

"She understands me," he said, pushing her slightly to the side so that he was once again standing right in front of Sun. "Did you steal this?" She calmly said something to him in Korean, but obviously, neither Sayid, Buffy, or Kate could understand her. She tried again when they didn't say anything, but was interrupted by an angry Jin who stepped between Sayid and his wife and started yelling at him. Sun put her hand on his arm to try and calm him, but to no avail. The two men simply continued to glare at each other.

"Okay, just take it easy, alright?" Kate said, pulling Sayid away. "We just want to talk, aright?" She took the empty bottle from him and showed it to Jin. "Where did you get this?" Pause. Jin looked from the bottle to Sayid. "Who gave you this?" Jin pointed to his right and they all turned to see Sawyer sitting on the sand, smoking a cigarette.

"How did I _not_ see this coming," sighed Buffy, marching over to where Sawyer was sitting with Sayid and Kate following behind her. "Well, well, look who stole the camp's water."

"Hey, Princess. You really think I stole your damn water?" he said with a smirk, and Sayid grabbed him and pulled him off of the sand.

"We know you gave two bottles to the Koreans," he said, his face an inch away from Sawyer's. He let him go, but both men stood their guard.

"I don't give nothing to nobody," Sawyer retorted, giving Sayid a glare. "I traded Mr. Miyagi the last of my water for a fish he caught. We worked it out caveman-style."

"You gave him your last two bottles?" asked Kate sceptically.

"Water has no value, Freckles. It's gonna rain sooner or later. And hell, I'm an optimist." With a loud sigh, Buffy threw her arms up into the air in exhaustion and walked away, not wanting to hear anything else he had to say. Annoyed, she headed toward the medical tent to check on Clair, but started sprinting when she heard the commotion.

"Here's your thief!"

"Where'd he hide it?"

"I don't know. This wanker had three bottles on him. Why'd you do it, pretty boy? Eh?" She arrived in time to see Boone shoved out of the tent and Charlie exiting, glaring down at him.

"Hey!" she called, rushing up to them and helping Boone to his feet. "Charlie! What's going on here?"

"He stole the water!" Charlie yelled, glaring and attempting to lunge at Boone, but Sayid held him back.

"You what?" Buffy turned to him, her eyes wide with shock.

"It was just sitting in the tent. And Jack just took off," he said, looking back and forth between all the people that were looking at him.

"Claire could have died!" Charlie shouted, but Sayid kept a firm grip on his arm to prevent him from attacking Boone.

"I tried to give her some sooner, but it just got out of hand. No one would have understood. Someone had to take responsibility for it. It would've never lasted!"

"Shut up!" Charlie pulled him self out of Sayid's grasp and pushed Boone.

"Leave him alone!" Everyone turned to see Jack at the edge of the group. "It's been six days and we're all still waiting... waiting for someone to come. But what if they don't?" He stepped into the center of the group, and Buffy offered him an encouraging smile. "We have to stop waiting. We need to start figuring things out. A woman almost died today. He tried to save her, and now you're about to crucify him? Every man for himself is not gonna work. It's time to figure out how we're gonna survive here. Now, I found water. Fresh water, up in the valley. I'll take a group in at first light. If you don't wanna come, the fund another way to contribute. Last week, most of us were strangers. But now we're all here now. And god knows how long we're gonna be here. But if we can't live together... we're gonna die alone."

Everyone stood for a moment, thinking about what Jack had said before scattering. Walking over to Hurley who was dividing the remaining water into cups, she grabbed two with a smile and stopped, looking down the beach. Seeing Boone sitting on the shore staring out at the ocean, she walked over to him, plopping down on the sand and offering him a cup.

"Hey," she said quietly, smiling slightly as he nodded his thanks. "Some day, huh?" But before she could continue, Sawyer walked up to them and stopped.

"So, how's it feel?" he asked, addressing Boone.

"How's what feel?" Boone answered, not looking at him.

"Taking my place at the top of everyone's most hated list. It sucks, don't it?" Without another word, he left, leaving Buffy glaring after him.

"Don't listen to him-..."

"Two people could have died," Boone interrupted, not looking at her and instead into his cup of water. "And it would have been my fault."

"Hey, now," she said, looking over at him. "None of that. You were doing what you thought was right. Everyone makes a mistake now and then. I know I do. Just can't let assholes like that affect you." He didn't answer, and she left him be, slowly drinking her water and looking out into the ocean, listening to the sound of the waves beating against the shore. 

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Sorry this chapter was so short. I cut a bit and twisted it around because it wasn't my favorite episode, and I'm not quite fond of that whole "Jack seeing his father" thing. Hope you enjoyed it anyways!

Oh, and as you can see, I'm changing a few things around due to popular demand. Nothing major right now, as I want the plot to be able to progress as it would have, but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve. You'll just have to wait and see!


	6. House of the Rising Sun

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or LOST. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon, and LOST belongs to J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof. I'm just a poor college student playing around with the characters. The plot pretty much belongs to J.J. and Damon, as I'm just taking existing LOST episodes and inserting Buffy into them. A large amount of dialog is taken from the episode itself. Episode transcripts taken from twiztv.

xXxIzzyxXx and Becomingwhaturmeanttobe: I'm glad you like this story so far! Thanks for reviewing!

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"Buffy." She looked up from sharpening one of Locke's knives to see Jack gazing down at her, flanked by Charlie and Kate, all dressed for a hike and carrying backpacks.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked, continuing to look up at them curiously. "Where are you going?"

"Going to go look for some fresh water," answered Jack, jerking a thumb behind him in the direction of the jungle. "You in?" Buffy looked from Jack to Kate to Charlie and then down the beach.

"Nah, you guys seem to have this under control. I'll stay here and keep an eye on the others." The three nodded at her and headed off, Buffy going back to sharpening the knife. A couple of minutes later, she heard commotion a few yards down the beach; Jin had tackled Michael into the surf and was continuously punching him in the face. _Oh god, what now_? she thought to herself, abandoning the knife on the sand and pushing herself upright, rushing toward the fight.

"Hey!" she heard Michael call out over the splashing of the waves. "What the-..." Jin took this opportunity to straddle him, punching him in the face and ignoring Walt's pleas for him to stop.

"Stop! Hey, stop!" Walt finally reached them, but Jin simply reached out and pushed Walt away. He continued punching Michael and shouting in Korean, and Buffy sped up, wanting to reach them as soon as possible. "Get off of him! Please do something! He's gonna kill him! Stop him, please!"

"Hey!" Buffy cried out as she reached them, tackling Jin into the water and off of Michael. "Stop!" Jin started struggling, and Buffy could feel the salt water stinging her eyes, but she stood her ground, securely holding his arms behind him so that he couldn't get free. "What the hell is going on here?" She looked from Michael, who was sputtering and attempting to stand, to Walt, who was helping his father up, to Jin and Sun, who were both screaming in Korean, but she got no answer. Suddenly, Sawyer and Sayid ran up, Sawyer moving to help Michael out of the water, and Sayid coming to stand in front of Jin. Jin managed to slam an elbow into Buffy's stomach and she staggered but kept her grip, Sayid moving to her side to assist her. Jin continued to struggle.

"The handcuffs from the Sky Marshal!" he yelled, holding a hand out to Sawyer. "Now!" Sawyer, having abandoned helping Michael, took the handcuffs from his back pocket and handed them to Sayid, who managed to cuff one of Jin's hands with Buffy's help. Together, they dragged him up the beach, toward a piece of plane wreckage, and Sayid snapped the other cuff to a metal bar connected to the plane. Looking over her shoulder, Buffy noted that Michael was panting and limping up to them slowly, and Walt had a hand on his shoulder.

"What happened?" Sayid asked, turning toward Sun, but she didn't answer and merely stared back at him angrily. Annoyed that he wasn't getting any answers from her, he turned to Michael for an explanation.

"I was just walking down the beach with my son, and all of a sudden, the dude is all up on me. I didn't do anything." He glared at Jin, who had once again started yelling at him in Korean.

"Surely there must be something you're not telling us," said Sayid, not quite understanding.

"'Surely'?" asked Michael indignantly. "Where are you from man?"

"Tikrit," Sayid answered but continued after Michael's blank look. "Iraq."

"Okay," Michael started, looking from Sayid to Jin. "I don't know how it is in Iraq, but in the United States of America where I'm from, Korean people don't like black people. You know that?" Sayid shook his head, and Jin once again yelled something in Korean. "So maybe you ought to talk to him!"

"Hey," said Buffy softly, placing a hand on his arm, not wanting another fight to erupt. "It won't help us for you to get all riled up." Looking over, she noticed that Sun was motioning at her wrists to indicate the handcuffs on her husband. Sayid seemed to have noticed as well.

"The cuffs stay on," he said loudly to her, attempting to gesture by flailing his arms around.

"A little louder, Omar," said Sawyer sarcastically, and Buffy rolled her eyes at the nickname. "Maybe then she'll understand you."

"Guys, that Chinese dude's gonna get pretty crispy out here," Hurley reasoned, looking back and forth between Sayid and Jin who were staring daggers at each other. "How long you gonna keep him tied down like that?"

"He tried to kill Michael," stated Sayid obviously, clearly still angry at what had just happened. "We all saw it. The cuffs stay on until we know why."

"But..." Buffy started but was interrupted when everyone started walking off, first Sayid, then Michael and Walt. "Guys..." However, when Sawyer turned to leave, she sighed and shot Jin and Sun and apologetic look before leaving herself. Not having anything to do, she took a quick dip in the ocean, letting the water cool her over-heated skin, before changing into a pair of shorts and a tank top and heading over to where Sayid was chopping wood for the fire. Without a word she grabbed a second ax and went to work, ignoring his curious looks at how she cut the wood so quickly. They continued this for another fifteen minutes or so until Sayid noticed Jack and Kate emerge from them jungle.

"It's about time," he said, and Buffy turned and smiled as she saw them as well. "I am dying of thirst." Jack immediately took out two bottles and handed one to each Buffy and Sayid.

"Thanks," she mumbled, twisting off the top and taking a long sip before recapping it and sitting down next to where Kate had dropped to the floor. "Yeah, so, we had a little problem."

"Problem?" asked Jack, taking a swig of his own bottle and gesturing for Sayid to take a seat next to him.

"Michael and Jin," Sayid answered simply, clearly wanting Buffy to explain it.

"Yeah, Jin attacked Michael. Tackled him into the ocean and everything. He struggled, so Sayid" — she gestured to the man sitting next to her before taking another sip of water and continuing — "handcuffed him to that piece of plane sitting in the middle of the beach."

"I think I'll let him sit in the sun a while longer," said Sayid, completely finishing his bottle of water and setting it on the ground next to him. "Then I'll take his wife aside, find some way to communicate. I think she knows why he attacked Michael."

"You sure you don't want me to talk to her?" asked Jack, always willing to help, but Sayid merely looked at him and nodded. "Okay. If you've got that under control, I'm gonna start talking to people about the caves. Might be able to get a few to go with me before nightfall, start setting up camp."

"Caves? Shouldn't we stay on the beach. You know, in case something comes?" asked Buffy, furrowing her brow in confusion. Looking at Kate, she could tell that the other woman was thinking of something along of the same lines.

"Is there a reason you didn't consult us when you decided to form your own civilization?" asked Sayid slightly angrily, interrupting Jack before he could answer Buffy's question.

"I'm only talking about moving into the valley," said Jack, getting slightly defensive.

"Well," countered Sayid, and Buffy tensed, ready to break up yet another fight. "What happened to 'live together, die alone?'"

"Digging in together is the only way we're gonna survive!" responded Jack, his fists clenching in anticipation.

"Our best hope of survival is being spotted by a plane or ship!" Sayid said, standing up, causing Jack, Buffy and Kate to stand as well. "And for that we need to organize everyone to keep that signal fire burning while others scout the island for supplies. Digging in anywhere else is suicide!"

"Hey, boys, calm down," Buffy said, stepping in between them and trying to talk them out of arguing.

"It's the only source of fresh water we've found, Sayid," said Kate calmly, placing a hand on his forearm.

"And staying on the beach, in the sun, without water," started Jack, clearly not wanting to back down. "That's not suicide?" Sayid merely grabbed a few pieces of wood that he and Buffy had cut and headed to the beach, but stopped, not looking at the other three.

"I'm not going to admit defeat." Buffy sighed as he left, watching Jack and Kate's gaze on his retreating back. Getting their attention, she led them back to the beach so that Jack could talk to everyone about his idea. Reaching camp and not really wanting to hear Jack's speech, Buffy grabbed a few water bottles and started handing them out.

"Hey, Princess," Sawyer greeted when he saw Buffy approaching.

"Jack's giving a speech," she said briskly, tossing a bottle of water at him before turning and walking away.

"Oh yeah, let me just rush right over there to see what the Doc has to say," she heard him call sarcastically and quirked a small smile.

"Hey guys," greeted Buffy as she approached Boone, who was sitting on the sand reading a book, and Shannon, who was, as usual, tanning in a bikini on top of a towel. "Jack's making a speech. Wants to know if people want to stay on the beach or go off to these caves that he found." She tossed them two water bottles before taking the last one and making her way to where Jin was handcuffed to the plane. Holding it out to him, he didn't take it, so she held it out a bit further, offering him a small smile. He took it slowly, clearly surprised at this small act of kindness. "This is all for now so... uh... drink it slowly." He looked at her confusedly and she held the thumb and index finger of her right hand about an inch apart, hoping that he would be able to understand what she was gesturing. "Little. A little at a time." He said something in Korean and nodded, and Buffy took this as a sign that he knew what she was saying. Giving him another smile, she walked off to find Jack.

"Hey," she called as she reached Jack and Kate, who looked to be engaged in a conversation of their own. "What's the what?"

"I've got a small group of people that are willing to stay in the caves," said Jack. "Are you coming?"

"Nah," Buffy said, looking over her shoulder at the beach and the rest of the survivors. "My place is here. You guys go, you know where to find me if you need me."

"I don't think I should..." Kate trailed off, looking between Jack and Buffy.

"Go on," pressed Buffy gently. "I can handle things here." But before Kate could respond, she noticed Michael out of the corner of her eye. "Crap!" she yelled as she did a double take and realized that he was standing by Jin, waving an ax around in the air. Without a second glance at Jack and Kate, she sprinted off in that direction, yelling at him to stop. However, before she could make it, Michael slammed the ax down. However, Jin didn't appear hurt, just surprised, and Buffy skid to a stop, realizing that Michael had simply cut the cuffs in half. Breathing a sigh of relief, she turned around, and walked up to the beach, helping where she could to get everyone ready to leave for the caves.

After the survivors had split into two parts, those still left on the beach gathered around the signal fire. Buffy sat down next to Sayid without saying a world, but looked up, surprised, as Sawyer sat down next to her and offered her a small smile before the three of them turned their attention back to the fire. 

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Okay, so that was kind of a short, crappy chapter, but this wasn't my favorite episode, so I just covered the major points so that I could move on to the next one. Hope you enjoyed it anyways, even if it was just a filler chapter!


	7. The Moth

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or LOST. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon, and LOST belongs to J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof. I'm just a poor college student playing around with the characters. The plot pretty much belongs to J.J. And Damon, as I'm just taking existing LOST episodes and inserting Buffy into them. A large amount of dialog is taken from the episode itself. Episode transcripts taken from twiztv.

smileyte: I'm glad you like it so far! I'm making the island untraceable with magic because it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere, has this magical shield thing so that no one can find it with electronic equipment, and no one knows were it is. It's so powerful that I don't think even Willow's magic would be able to penetrate it! But yeah, they're definitely looking for her!

xXxIzzyxXx: Thanks for the review! Glad you're liking it!

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Buffy had been munching on a piece of fruit that Jin had brought her, sitting on the sand by the water and looking out into the ocean, when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Turning and realizing that it was Jack, she popped the remainder of the fruit into her mouth before getting up and following him to his tent.

"Well, look who it is," she said playfully, smiling and causing him to turn around. "Change your mind about the whole migrating into the jungle thing?"

"I just came by for a few things," he said, smiling, but suddenly, his voice turned serious. "Call me a broken record, but caves are a natural shelter, and a hell of a lot aver than living here on the beach."

"You pissed I won't come with you?" Buffy asked, tilting her head to the side slightly, but Jack merely shook his head and sighed.

"No, I just don't understand why you won't come with me — us. It's maybe a mile up there, if that."

"Eh," she responded, shrugging. "They've already got a leader at the caves. Might as well play one here. Plus, Sayid has a plan."

"Yeah," said Jack, looking away from her and continuing to stash some of his personal items in his backpack. "To find the source of the distress code. I know."

"Well, signal's coming from somewhere on the island," said Buffy, grabbing a few pairs of pants and handing them to him. "If he can find it-..."

"The signal's been running on a loop for sixteen years," said Jack, abandoning his packing and looking straight into her eyes. "And the woman that left it... She wasn't rescued. What makes you think it's gonna be any different for us?"

"I guess I'm more optimistic than the average person," she quipped, smiling up at him, but he merely returned to stuffing items into the bag.

"I wish I shared your faith." Just then there was a rustling sound, and the two looked behind them to see Sawyer entering the tent.

"I wouldn't mind sharing a few things with her myself," said Sawyer, sending Buffy a suggestive wink.

"What do you want?" she asked, rolling her eyes. He reminded her a lot of Spike. Before he got his soul.

"Heard the Doc here is vacating the premises," he answered, dropping the suitcases he was carrying onto the ground. "Thought I best lay claims to my new digs before somebody else did." Jack quickly gathered up his things. "I can fix this place up real good. Might even try to find somebody to share it with me."

"You're a pig, Sawyer," Buffy said, sending him a disgusted look and turning back to Jack. The two exited the tent without another word to Sawyer, and separated after saying goodbye, Buffy heading down the beach and Jack making his way back to the caves. Spotting Sayid and Boone talking, she waved, and Sayid gestured for her to join them. Once she reached them, Sayid handed her a metal rod, at which she looked curiously.

"Three antennae," he explained, and Buffy and Boone both nodded in comprehension. "Three points of triangle. One here on the beach." He took the rod from Buffy and jabbed it into the sand so that it stood on its own. "Another Boone will position in the jungle roughly two kilometers in. And the third, I'll take to high ground." He pointed off into the distance at a tall mountain. "Up there. If the French transmission is coming from somewhere within our triangulation I'll be able to locate the source."

"Fancy," Buffy remarked, clearly impressed, but Sayid continued.

"But there are two complications."

"Of course there are," Boone muttered under his breath, causing Buffy to send him a look. Sayid merely ignored him.

"The power cells I crafted onto the antennas are dry. There's no telling how long they'll last. A minute, maybe more, maybe less."

"So..." Buffy started, trying to keep up. "We have to wait until we're in position before we switch them on?"

"Well, wait a second," said Boone, clearly confused. "How are we gonna be able to tell that we're actually in the right position? We have no way to communicate with each other." Buffy nodded and turned to Sayid, wondering the same thing. Without answering, Sayid reached into his backpack and took out three rockets. "Bottle rockets?"

"Thank God for fireworks smugglers," Sayid answered with a small smile. "Now, when I'm in position, I'll fire off my rocket. When you two see it, you fire off yours. As soon as the last one has gone up, we'll all switch on our antennas."

"Gotcha," said Buffy in a mock-serious tone, saluting him. "Second complication?"

"The battery in the transceiver is dead," said Sayid, sighing slightly. "Without the transceiver, all of this is for nothing. Something from a laptop computer would probably work, but I've not been able to find anything."

"Ugh," said Buffy, bringing a hand up to rake across her face. "Yeah, I know where to find one..." Without another word, she left Boone and Sayid behind, heading back to Jack's old tent and entering. "I need something."

"And what would that be, Princess?" Sawyer asked from the ground, where he was reclining and reading a book.

"I need a laptop," Buffy said simply. "A battery from one."

"Now why would I give anything to you?" he asked, putting down his book and stand up so that he was towering over the small Slayer.

"So that we can get off this freaking island?" she asked sarcastically, looking up at him. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty tired of eating boar that was killed in front of me and being covered with sand twenty-four seven." He smirked at her, and she glared.

"What's the magic word?" he asked, moving to one of his suitcases, taking out a laptop, and popping out the battery. Buffy reached for it, but he pulled it back, holding it out of her reach. "Nuh uh."

"Give it to me before I kick your sorry ass back to the seventeenth century," she said impatiently, holding out her hand expectantly.

"Ooh, feisty," said Sawyer, giving her an appreciative look. "I like a woman who can bring a little fire."

"Oh, please," Buffy scoffed, quickly snatching the battery from his hand. "You wouldn't be able to handle me." Without another word, she gave him a glare and stalked from the tent, making her way over to where Boone and Sayid were standing, waiting for her. "Found one."

"Ah, excellent," Sayid said, taking the battery and inspecting it. "This will do." With a smile at Buffy, he gathered up his gear and headed into the jungle, Boone joining him after saying goodbye to Buffy. Knowing that she had to stay put so that she could see when Sayid and Boone's rockets went off, she settled down in the sand, enjoying the peacefulness of the island. Although she missed her friends dearly and would love to be back home, she was slightly grateful that she had been given a break from her hectic schedule. She sat there for fifteen minutes or so, simply staring into the clear blue of the ocean until she heard someone yelling.

"Hey!" Buffy turned to see Charlie hurtling toward her, panting and sweating with the effort. "Hey! We need help!"

"What's wrong, man?" asked Michael who had suddenly appeared at her side with Walt.

"It's Jack," Charlie panted, bending over and resting his hands on his knees to keep himself upright. "He's trapped."

"He what?" asked Buffy, eyes widening in alarm, staring at Charlie.

"A cave collapsed. We don't even know if he's alive. Come on, we got to go!" Without another word to Buffy or Michael, he sprinted off, trying to find as many people as possible to help Jack.  
Knowing that she was needed, she looked around wildly, finally spotting Shannon tanning as usual.

"Shannon!" Buffy cried out, and the other girl sat up, lifting her sunglasses so that she could see better. "Hey Shannon!" She finally reached her and skidded to a stop. "I need you to do something for me. You gotta turn on that antenna over there." She pointed to the metal rod sticking out of the sand. "At exactly five. There's a switch at the base."

"Why?" Shannon asked, and Buffy sighed, exasperated that the woman wouldn't just do what she was told.

"Because Sayid is trying to find that French woman's transmission thing," Buffy explained hurriedly, gesturing wildly. "But it's low on batteries or something. So you have to wait until they fire their rockets and then you fire this one" — she held out the bottle rocket — "and turn on the antenna." She pointed once again to the metal rod. "Got it?"

"Yeah, I can do that," said Shannon, seemingly excited to be part of something for once.

"Okay, good, thanks," Buffy quickly handed her the rocket before turning and sprinting off after Charlie, Michael, and the others. Catching up to them quickly with the use of her Slayer speed, the group ran at full speed toward the caves, entering and stopping in front of a wall consisted of rocks. There's already a group of people attempting to move the rocks blocking the cave entrance.

"Hey! Hey wait!" Michael called, running up and gesturing for everyone to stop, Walt at his side. Buffy, who had already started to help, dropped the rock she had been holding, sending a cloud of dust pooling around her feet.

"Wait?" asked Hurley skeptically. "Jack's in there!"

"Let me check it out before you start moving things around," said Michael, taking charge. "If it's unstable-..."

"Well, how do you know?" interrupted Hurley, clearly impatient and wanting to get Jack out of there as soon as possible.

"Eight years of construction work," he answered, stepping over the rocks and gesturing for people to move back before turning toward his son. "Hey, Walt, you get back, man. I don't want you near the rocks, okay? And take the dog with you."

"You guys should get Mr. Locke," Walt responded but took Vincent's leash and lead him further away.

"Locke's out in the jungle killing stuff," said Hurley, craning his head to see what Michael was doing. "Who knows where he is?"

"Alright, look this area here is load-bearing," Michael explained, gesturing to the rocks in front of him. "We got to dig where there's no danger of the wall buckling in on itself." He scrambled down for the mane blockage and moved a bit to the side, looking for another way in. "Alright, here. We dig in here so the wall doesn't collapse. Four at a time, by hand till we can find some kind of shovel." Stepping up onto the pile immediately, Buffy grabbed a particularly large rock, chucking it over her shoulder and onto the ground behind her, as Michael continued. "We take shifts and go slow. Whoever isn't digging should be clearing the rocks that we pull out and bringing water to who is working, okay? Let's move." Buffy felt the others come up beside her, and handed Michael a rock that she had just removed. They continued to dig for what seemed like forever, everyone except Buffy taking breaks. Refusing to stop, she kept digging, hands covered in dirt, sweating and panting with the effort.

"Hey!" she called out as she realized something, bringing up a hand to wipe a piece of hair off of her damp forehead. "We're through! There's a hole!" Leaning as close to the opening as possible, she called out, feeling the others crowd around behind her. "Jack! Jack, can you hear me?" Pause. Nothing. "Dammit, Jack, answer!" Everyone was silent as they waited for an answer, and Buffy smiled when she heard a groan. "I can hear him!"

"He's alive!" called Hurley to the others who were too far away to hear.

"Jack!" yelled Michael, and Buffy moved aside slightly so that he could have better access to the hole. "You okay, man?"

"I'm pinned." His voice was muffled. "I can't move." There's a pause. "Charlie! Charlie was with me!"

"He's okay," said Hurley, quickly reassuring him. "He made it out."

"Hey, listen, Jack?" called Michael, continuing once he heard Jack shout "Yeah?" "We're gonna get you outa there, okay?" Making up her mind, Buffy nudged Michael aside gently, grabbing an abandoned flashlight and scrambling into the hole, ignoring the protests from both Michael and Hurley. "Buffy! Buffy, what are you doing! Get back here!"

"I'm the only one that fit," she called back, maneuvering herself through the tunnel, careful not to touch the sides. "See if you can find another way out. Don't think that Jack'll be able to get through this." Not waiting for a response, she continued crawling, stopping when she felt the ground rumble slightly and saw small pebbles and dirt falling from the tunnel roof. Taking a deep breath, she continued, knowing that she was Jack's only hope.

"Buffy?" she heard Michael call. "Buffy! Move!" Looking back and seeing that the tunnel had started to collapse quickly, she sped up, panting and feeling her muscles burn from crawling so fast. The ground was trembling even harder now, and Buffy fell through the opening just as the cave completely collapsed, sending her sprawling onto the ground, covered in dirt. Coughing sightly and waving her arms around so that she could see through the cloud of dust, she saw Jack lying on the ground a few feet away.

"So, this kinda sucks, doesn't it?" she said, and Jack smiled at her, clearly relieved that she had made it through. She made her way over to him, frowning when she saw the large boulder on top of his arm. "Here. Lemme get this off of you. On the count of three?" Jack nodded. "One... two... three!" She grabbed the boulder and lifted it easily as if it weighed nothing, tossing it to the side. Thankfully, Jack seemed not to have noticed, as he was busy groaning and clutching his shoulder in pain.

"My shoulder is dislocated," he said through gritted teeth, and Buffy nodded.

"Well then, we should probably pop that back in." Leaning down toward him, she grabbed his hand, looking into his eyes for the signal. Nodding, he braced himself, and Buffy pulled hard on his arm, snapping his shoulder back into place with a loud _pop_. Grimacing sympathetically as she watched him cry out and then groan in pain, she made sure that he was alright before standing up and grabbing the flashlight. "Okay, that'll take too long..." she said to herself, looking back toward the entrance where she came from. It was now completely blocked off. "There has to be..." She tucked the flashlight into the waistband of her jeans, reaching up toward the low ceiling and running her hand across the dirt.

"Dirt, not rocks," she mumbled, and cocked her arm back, slamming her fist upward into the surface above her. A large amount of dirt and small pebbles rained down around her, but she simply shook them off and continued digging, creating a small tunnel that her and Jack could use to crawl out of the cave. Not able to reach any higher, she looked around, seeing that Jack was watching her, and grabbed a large bolder from the entrance of the cave, standing on it so that she could reach further. She dug for a few more minutes before her hands connected with moist top soil. Crying out in triumph, she felt her hand break through the soil, and slammed it down, grabbing a handful of pants for leverage and pulling her body out of the hole she had created.

"Jack!" she called. "I got it!" Slithering back down the hole, she helped Jack stand and maneuvered him to the entrance, pushing him up before climbing in herself. Finally reaching the top, Jack pushed himself out with Buffy on his heels, and both collapsed onto the ground, Buffy panting from the climb and the digging, and Jack from the pain. When Buffy looks over, he's smiling at her, and she smiles back. "C'mon, lets get back to the others. Probably still trying to dig through that tunnel." Grabbing his uninjured arm, she helped him up, and together, they made their way back to the caves. Entering the caves, they see Walt playing with Vincent a small distance away from the others, and Vincent barks.

"Hey! It's the doctor!" Walt shouts, turning around and pointing at them. The others stop digging and turn, rushing toward the two when the realize what had happened. Spotting them, Kate climbed down from the top of the rock pile, clearly exhausted, and walked past everyone, heading straight for jack and wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight hug. Buffy moved back so that they could have a moment, only to be surrounded by the others.

"Ow!" he cried out. "Easy! My shoulder," he continued, and she backed off a little but still didn't let go of her.

"How'd you get out?" asked Hurley, stepping forward to give Jack a handshake. Buffy took this opportunity to slip out of sight without anyone noticing, not wanting her getting them out to cause a big scene. Stopping to grab a nearby water bottle, she made her way through the Jungle and back to the beach, wanting to get cleaned up and into some clean clothes as soon as possible.

Reaching the beach, it had already begun to get dark, and she could see no sign of either Sayid or Boone. Looking over at Shannon, she gave her a questioning glance, to which the other woman nodded, and Buffy smiled, giving her a nod before stripping down to her bra and underwear and jumping into the ocean to wash off the dirt coating her body. Wringing out her hair and making her way back to her tent, her dirty clothes clutched in her hands, she changed into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt before emerging and looking down the beach. Seeing Sawyer sitting on his own next to the fire nose still buried in the same book, she made her way over, sitting down without a word, causing him to look over at her. He silently handed some kind of fruit which she took with a grateful smile, extremely hungry after what she had been through that day. The two sat next to each other in comfortable silence, Sawyer turning back to his book, and Buffy biting into the fruit, reveling in the sweet taste that filled her mouth, watching the dancing flames of the fire.

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Well, that's it for now! Hope you enjoyed! I know this episode was supposed to be Charlie-centric, but I decided to tweak it around a bit because I figure that our favorite Slayer would be the first one to throw herself into that tunnel to save Jack. Drop me a review on your way out! 


	8. Confidence Man

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or LOST. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon, and LOST belongs to J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof. I'm just a poor college student playing around with the characters. The plot pretty much belongs to J.J. and Damon, as I'm just taking existing LOST episodes and inserting Buffy into them. A large amount of dialog is taken from the episode itself. Episode transcripts taken from twiztv.

Shalia74: I'm glad you're liking it so far! Yeah I have been searching for a Buffy/LOST crossover for ages and couldn't find one with Buffy either, so I decided to write one of my own! I'm glad you think she fits well. And I would enjoy a Buffy/Jack pairing, but I haven't really decided who she would fit best with, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Toniboo: Yay! I'm glad you like! Congrats on starting LOST, it's an awesome show, isn't it? Yes, Buffy is going to be paired with someone, probably either Jack, Sawyer, or Boone (I love Charlie, but I adore him and Claire together so that won't be changed). You'll just have to wait and see!

Alrighty, I'm posting this because I'm heading back to college on Friday, and I don't know when I'll find time to write another chapter. Just a head's up. Will try to get back to it as soon as I can! --

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"Oh my god!" Buffy had just arrived at the caves to refill a few bottles of water when she spotted Sawyer and Jack, Sayid with a huge gash on his head and Jack with a cloth and an open bottle of hydrogen peroxide. "Sayid! What happened?" Jack looked at him expectantly as well; Apparently, Sayid hadn't told him anything yet.

"We were trying to find the source of the distress call," he said, pausing to groan in pain when Jack applied the peroxide to his wound. "I saw the flare from the beach, and then the flare from Boone's position in the jungle. I switched on my antenna, activated the transceiver, and then ... darkness. Whoever hit me came from behind."

"They destroyed the equipment?" asked Jack continuing to fuss over Sayid's wound even though he was trying to swat his hand away.

"Yes," he answered with a nod. Buffy groaned.

"Listen," said Jack, looking between Buffy and Sayid. "We're gonna figure this out, but don't do any-..."

"I will do what I need to do to find the man responsible," interrupted, clearly upset. Buffy put an arm on his hand to calm him, but it didn't seem to work. Suddenly, there was a commotion outside the cave.

"We need some help over here!" Buffy heard Shannon yell and she, Jack, and Sayid turned to see a bloody and limping Boone being led into the cave by Shannon. Quickly, Buffy stood up, rushing over and taking Boone from Shannon, Jack getting up to help as well. They helped him further into the cave and set him down at the medical station.

"Boone?" asked Buffy, taking a cloth from Jack and soaking it in hydrogen peroxide, starting to dab at his wounds, wincing sympathetically when he groaned in pain. "Are you alright?"

"What happened?" asked Jack, also using a peroxide-soaked cloth to dab at a cut on his left temple.

"Sawyer," Boone panted, causing Buffy, Jack, and Sayid all to look at each other. "Jack, Buffy. I'm fine. It's just a scrape." They both ignored him, continuing to dab at and clean his cuts.

"Yeah, lots of scrapes today," said Jack, looking over at Sayid who was staring at Boone. "I'm running out of peroxide. He grabbed another bottle and uncapped it, handing it to Buffy.

"He just jumped me, man," said Boone, attempting to wave off Buffy as she continued to fuss over him, but she merely swatted his hand away.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously. Surely there was something that he wasn't telling them. Sawyer may be a jerk, but he didn't just beat up people for no reason. Something had to have happened between the two of them.

"Shannon has asthma," he said, and Buffy gave him a 'yes... and?' look.

"Asthma?" Jack asked, clearly as confused as Buffy was.

"Yeah." Both Jack and Buffy looked over at Shannon who was sitting just outside the cave, looking slightly worse for the wear.

"Never seen her have an attack before," Jack said, resuming his cleaning of Boone's cuts.

"Because she had an inhaler," said Boone, and he hissed as Jack probed a particularly deep cut on his arm. Buffy had finished cleaning the cuts on her side and merely sat there, listening. "She sneaks hits when no one's looking. She's been embarrassed about it since she was a little kid. I guess breathing's not cool."

"Had an inhaler?" asked Jack.

"It ran out a couple days ago," explained Boone, looking between Jack and Buffy. "But it had four refills, which should have been enough for a couple months. But she always forgets her medication, so I put it in my suitcase. Today I see that jackass reading "Watership Down"-..."

"You're losing me," interrupted Jack, and Buffy nodded, thinking the same thing.

"It was in my bags. The stuff that I checked. If he has my book, he has my luggage. If he has the luggage, he has the inhalers." Boone looked back at Shannon with concern. "Her breathing got really rough today, man. If she has an attack, it's not gonna be good." Jack and Buffy looked at each other for a second before both standing up, thinking the same thing.

"Boone?" said Buffy gently, and he looked up at her. "We're going to go find Shannon's medicine, okay? Stay here and rest." He nodded, clearly in too much pain to argue, and Buffy shot his Shannon a concerned glance before following Jack back to the beach. Once they reached the sand, they headed straight for Sawyer's tent, entering and finding him sitting in the middle of it, reading a piece of paper and smoking a cigarette. Immediately, Jack started going through the suitcases, looking for the inhaler, but Buffy merely stood there, watching as Sawyer carefully folded the paper he was reading and put it in his pocket, not getting up.

"Where is it?" Jack demanded, abandoning the suitcase he was looking through to look through another one.

"Hey, Doc," said Sawyer, still not getting up. "Long time, no see."

"Where is it?" Jack repeated, clearly getting frustrated.

"Where is what?" Sawyer asked, but Buffy could tell that he knew what Jack was asking him for.

"Shannon's asthma medicine," Buffy answered calmly, knowing that getting all worked up wouldn't do them any good. "Her inhalers."

"Oh, that," Sawyer said but made no move to tell them where it was.

"You attacked a kid for trying to help his sick sister," Jack accused, abandoning his search to stare straight at Sawyer.

"No, I whooped a thief 'cause he was going through my stuff."

"Yours?" Jack started shouting at Sawyer, both men attempting to be heard over the other. Buffy sighed. Pissing off Sawyer was not going to help them get what they needed. "What makes it yours?"

"Which I had to move because everybody wants to help themselves."

"You can just take something out of a suitcase, and that makes it yours?" Jack asked, marching over to Sawyer so that he was staring down at him.

"Look, I don't know want kind of commie share-fest you're running over in cave town," answered Sawyer, still not standing and merely glaring up at Jack, "but down here possession's nine-tenths and a man's got a right to protect his property."

"Get up!" yelled Jack, and Buffy grabbed his arm to try and calm him, but he simply pulled out of her grasp.

"Why, you wanna see who's taller?" came Sawyer's smart-ass remark.

"Get up!" Jack repeated.

"You sure you want to make this your problem, Doc?" asked Sawyer as he continued to look up at Jack.

"Oh, yeah. I'm sure." Sawyer stands up, and Jack takes a step back. Buffy felt that it was time to intervene and moved between them, placing a hand on each of their chests.

"Hey! Stop it you two!" She glared at both of them. "Look! Shannon's going to be in a crapload of trouble if we don't get her that inhaler! And you two competing to see who has a higher level testosterone isn't going to solve anything!" Just then, Kate walked in and stopped, taking in the scene before her.

"What's going on here?" The two men glared at each other before Jack turned and left without saying anything, Kate following after him. Buffy gave Sawyer a pointed look.

"Sorry, Princess," he said before sitting back down and lighting another cigarette. Buffy gave an exasperated sigh, throwing her arms up in the air before exiting the tent, spotting Jack and Kate a few feet away.

"Let me talk to Sawyer," Kate was saying and Buffy walked up to them. Spotting her, Kate amended her statement. "And Buffy, too."

"What makes you think he's gonna listen to you?" asked Jack, clearly still annoyed.

"Sawyer seems to have a... uh... soft spot for us," said Buffy, making a disgusted look. Kate seemed to be thinking the same thing. Without another word to Jack, the two women turned and walked off, peering into the tent and not finding Sawyer. They glanced at each other before heading off to wander the beach, finally spotting him near the forest, chopping some wood.

"What do you want?" asked Buffy as soon as they got into hearing range, and he turned to face them.

"Excuse me?" he asked, playing dumb even though Buffy knew he understood exactly what they wanted from him.

"What do you want, Sawyer?" tried Kate, glaring at him.

"Freckles, I got so many answers to that question, I wouldn't even know where to start." Kate made a face, clearly exasperated.

"What do you want for the inhalers?" she elaborated.

"Ah. Good question. Hang on a tick." He paused while he turned and swung the ax, cutting a piece of wood in half. "What do I want? A kiss ought to do it."

"Excuse me?" asked Buffy, not sure if she had heard him right. Kate looked confused as well.

"A kiss. From one of you, right now," he said over his shoulder, still chopping wood.

"I don't buy it," said Kate and Sawyer stopped chopping to turn around and look at her.

"Buy what?"

"The act," Kate continued ,and both Buffy and Sawyer looked at her in confusion. "You try too hard, Sawyer. We ask you to help a woman who can't breathe, and you want one of us to kiss you? Nobody's that disgusting." He hesitated for a second before going back to chopping wood. "I've seen you, you know."

"Seen me what?"

"With that piece of paper. The one you keep in your pocket." Buffy though back and realized that she had seen him reading the piece of paper too; she had never made anything of it. "I've seen  
the expression on your face when you read it, and how carefully you fold it up. It means something to you. So you can play games all you want, but I know there's a human being in there somewhere." She paused. Buffy had started to feel very uncomfortable, and that didn't happen very often. "Give me the medication."

"You think you understand me," Sawyer practically growled, and Buffy turned to look at him in surprise.

"Yeah. I think I have a-..." Kate started, but was cut off almost immediately.

"Shut up!" he yelled, making Kate jump. Buffy simply watched him warily, slightly on guard in case he made a move to attack Kate. "You want to know what kind of human being I am?" He turns and walked up to them, digging into his pocket and pulling out the piece of paper and holding it out in front of Kate. "Read it." She made no move to take it and merely stood staring at it. He grabbed her hand and forced her to take it, stepping back once she had it clutched in her hand. "Read it! Out loud." He looked straight into Buffy's eyes as Kate began to read.

"Dear Mr. Sawyer, you don't know who I am, but I know who you are, and I know what you've done. You had sex with my mother, and then you stole my dad's money all away. So he got angry, and he killed my mother. And then he killed himself, too." Kate paused, looking up, and Sawyer snapped his eyes away from Buffy's to hers.

"Don't stop now," he growled quietly. "You're getting to the good part." Kate looked back down at the piece of paper.

"All I know is your name, but one of these days I'm gonna find you, and I'm gonna give you this letter so you'll remember what you done to me. You killed my parents, Mr. Sawyer." He reached over and took the letter from a sunned Kate.

"Now how about that kiss?" He waited a long moment, but neither of the girls moved or said anything. Suddenly Buffy snapped out of her thoughts, looking up to see that Sawyer was staring her straight in the eye, and turned, walking away from him back to the beach, not bothering to wait for Kate. It had begun to get dark, but Buffy took no notice, heading quickly up the beach and toward the caves, wanting to find Jack as quickly as possible. Entering the caves, she could hear Shannon's coughing and wheezing as she struggled for air and she shot her a concerned look before spotting Jack and making her way over to him.

"Anything?" he asked as he caught sight of her.

"Nothing," whispered Buffy, not wanting to freak out Shannon or Boone. "Asshole wouldn't tell or give us anything." Jack sighed. A soft murmur rippled through the caves, and Buffy and Jack turned to see that Sawyer had entered, carrying an empty water bottle in his hand. Buffy glared as she saw that he didn't so much as spare a glance in Shannon's direction, starting to stand, but Jack put a hand on her arm, quietly telling her to stay down, as he got up. Buffy obeyed, but remained tense.

"Give me the inhalers ... now," demanded Jack, standing right next to the other man.

"Hell, I wondered when you were gonna stop asking nice," responded Sawyer, not getting up even though Jack was towering over him. As he lifted the cup to drink, Jack punched him straight in the face, causing him to fall to the ground and drop his cup. Buffy jumped up, but remained where she was, knowing that Jack wanted to do this on his own. Rubbing his injured shoulder, he waited for Sawyer to stand up.

"Well, it's about time, Cowboy. I've been telling you since day one we're in the wild." Sawyer finally got to his feet. "Didn't think you had it in you." Jack punched him in the face again, causing him to spin and once again fall to the floor. Slowly, he got up, wiping the blood off of his mouth. "That all you got?" Jack looked at Jin and Sun, then Boone and Shannon, and finally at Buffy. Shaking his head as if Sawyer wasn't worth it, he turned without another word and walked away, going to check on Shannon. Sawyer looked up at Buffy, but she quickly averted her gaze, also moving to join Jack. The rest of the night passed quietly, Buffy deciding to stay so that she could help in whatever way she could with Shannon. The girl was still having trouble breathing, but still seemed to be doing alright. However, this changed the very next day.

"Help! She's not breathing!" Buffy heard Boone shout, and both her and Jack sprinted over to see what was happening. Jack knelt down in front of Shannon, forcing her to look at him. "The attacks are getting worse!"

"Shannon, listen to me. Look at me." She didn't move. She was clearly panicking. "Look at me." Jack turned Shannon's head so that she was looking at him.) "You need to listen now. This isn't just the asthma. It's anxiety." Buffy winced as the coughed roughly and panted for breath, clearly distressed.

"No," she managed to choke out, shaking her head.

"It's in your head. Yes," Jack said reassuringly. The others at the cave moved up to watch Jack with Shannon. Both Jack and Buffy ignored them. You know that your medicine's run out and you're panicking, but, Shannon, Shannon, look at me. But we can fight this together, okay? Nod your head, Shannon." She nodded, still gasping and wheezing. "Good. Breathe in -"

"She needs her inhaler," Boone interrupted, but Buffy quickly shushed him, knowing that Jack knew what he doing, and he fell silent. Jack sent her a small smile and continued.

"Breathe in through the nose slowly." Shannon didn't listen and continued to gasp through her mouth." No, no, no, no. In through the nose like this." Jack breathed in though his nose to demonstrate. "You can do this, Shannon. You can do it. In through the nose." Shannon tried breathing in with her nose a few times, becoming more confident once it seemed like it was working. She was no longer gasping for breath. Jack watched her carefully, and she kept her eyes glued to his the entire time.

"You got your breath," said Jack, nodding at her. Buffy felt Boone relax slightly next to her and gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Your color's coming back. See, I knew you could do  
this. You feel it?"

"Yeah," she answered, voice still a little rough.

"It's passing," said Jack reassuringly. "Okay. Again. In through the nose." She took a deep breath in through her nose, and Jack exhaled with her. Alright. Just keep doing that. Keep breathing like that. That's perfect. Good job." Jack stood up and pulled Boone aside, Buffy getting up as well. "Keep her relaxed. Do not let her panic." Boone nodded and moved back to his sister, and Jack gave Buffy a look before hurrying away from the caves, Buffy on his heels. They were half way to the beach when Sayid caught up with them.

"Jack!" Both Buffy and Jack glanced behind them, but didn't stop running. "What will happen if she doesn't get her medicine?" Jack shook his head, but both Buffy and Sayid knew what he was thinking. "Then we have to make Sawyer give it to us."

"Yeah?" asked Jack sarcastically, still running. "That's what I'm gonna do."

"No, not you. Me." Both Jack and Buffy stopped running. "I served five years in The Republican Guard."

"I thought you were a communications officer," asked Buffy.

"Part of my training entailed getting the enemy to communicate," he said, turning to her before returning his gaze on Jack. "Just give me ten minutes with him. He'll give us the medicine." Jack was silent as he thought about it.

"Is that a yes?" Sayid prompted a few seconds later when Jack had still not said anything.

"Yes," said Jack, looking at Sayid and nodding.

"Nuh uh!" said Buffy, causing both men to look at her. "There is no freaking way that we're going to torture him!" She had never tortured a human before, whether they were deserving or not, and she wasn't about to start now. They both continued to look at her. "No! No way!"

"Buffy-..."

"No! I don't care if they do that in Iraq! It's barbaric!" Sure she had tortured demons for information before, but this was different. At least that's what she told herself.

"Buffy," Jack interrupted gently. "It's the only way." Buffy looked back and forth between Jack and Sayid, knowing that they were right but not wanting to admit it. Slowly she nodded her head, and the three made their way back to the beach. Jack and Buffy wait outside of the tent as Sayid goes into get Sawyer. Dragging his unconscious form out of the tent, only to be interrupted by Kate as they carry him up the beach.

"What are you doing?" Kate asked, making her way toward them. They ignored her and continued on their way into the jungle away from the beach. "Jack!"

"This was Sawyer's choice, not mine," Jack answered gruffly, not stopping. Kate tried again.

"Buffy..."

"Stay here, Kate," Buffy said quietly, not stopping either, but sparing a glance over her shoulder at the other woman. "You shouldn't see this." And without another word, the three made their way to a small grove of trees, pushing Sawyer down to his knees and tied his hands behind his back. At a nod from Jack, Sayid threw some water on Sawyer to wake him up, and he came to, examining his position before turning and looking at Sayid.

"Well, ain't you the brave one? Jumping a guy while he's napping." He looked behind Sayid to see Jack and Buffy standing there. "Uh-oh. I'm in trouble now, ain't I?" He looked straight at Buffy. "Well, Princess, didn't think you'd be into this. Tying guys up and all? Guess you never know who'll turn out to be a closet dominatrix." Buffy didn't say anything and merely continued to stare at him coolly. Jack walked over to Sawyer, Sayid stepping aside, and knelt down.

"Sawyer ... we gave you a chance to do the right thing," he said and Sawyer's eyes snapped away from Buffy's to rest on the man in front of him. "Now all I want is the asthma medicine. Just tell me where the inhalers are, and we'll stop."

"Stop what, Chico?" Sawyer asked, staring him straight in the eye. Jack glanced back at Sayid who was using the knife Locke gave him to sharpen some bamboo pieces before turning back and looking at Sawyer.

"It doesn't have to be this way," said Jack, allowing Sawyer a way out.

"Yeah, it does." Buffy sighed as she saw the spark of defiance glisten in his eyes. Slowly, Jack stood up and looked at Sayid before stepping aside. Sayid walked up to Sawyer, kneeling down in front of him and shaved off another piece of bamboo.

"We do not have bamboo in Iraq. Although we do have something similar... reeds. But their effect is the same... when the chutes are inserted underneath the fingernails."

"You know what I think, Ali?" Sawyer asked mockingly. "I think you've never actually tortured  
anybody in your life."

"Unfortunately for us both, you're wrong," answered Sayid, getting up and walking around the tree, kneeling down and grabbing one of Sawyer's hands. Buffy couldn't see what was going on, but it was obviously unpleasant from the grunts of pain that Sawyer was emitting. Jack watched calmly, but it was all that Buffy could do not to turn away.

"That's it? That's all you got?" Sawyer taunted, panting and sweating. Buffy groaned, wishing that he would stop being such a stubborn jerk and give in already. "Splinters? No wonder we  
kicked your ass in the Gulf-..." He finished with a loud scream as Sayid continued his ministrations. Jack started pacing as Sawyer continued to scream, but Buffy stood still, shaking slightly with the effort of trying not to go over and pull Sayid off of Sawyer. _It's for Shannon, Shannon needs us_, she reminded herself, but her resolve was quickly fading. Finally, Jack seemed to have had enough.

"Sayid..." he started but was cut off by another of Sawyer's screams of pain. Sayid appeared not to have heard him.

"Dammit, Sayid!" Buffy yelled taking a few steps forward, "Stop it! That's enough!" Sayid stopped and turned to her, Sawyer panting and gasping with his head down.

"No," said Sawyer, looking up and smiling. "Don't stop now." He sniffled pointedly. "I think my sinuses are clearing."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" yelled Jack, stalking up to him. Sayid grabed a handful of Sawyer's hair and pulled his head back, holding the knife up against Sawyer's cheek, just below his eye.

"Sayid, no!" Buffy shouted, but to no avail.

"Perhaps losing an eye will loosen your tongue," Sayid snarled, bringing the knife a bit closer to his eye.

"Okay!" Sawyer screamed, and Sayid took the knife away. His voice then adopted a much softer tone, one that Buffy hadn't heard before. "Okay. Okay."

"Where is it?" asked Sayid.

"Only person I'll tell ... is her." His eyes flickered to where Buffy was standing, and she tensed.

"Buffy?" asked Jack, looking from Buffy to Sawyer. Sawyer flicked his eyes back to Jack.

"That's the deal." He and Buffy stared at each other for a moment before Buffy made her decision.

"Sayid, Jack, go back to the beach," she said quietly, and they turned to look at her. They looked like they were about to protest, but she interrupted them. "Go. Now." Reluctantly, they turned and left, leaving Buffy and Sawyer alone. She walked up to him slowly, staring down at him. "Where is it?"

"Happy to tell you," he said, sending her a soft smile. Whether it was genuine or if it was because he was in pain, Buffy couldn't tell. "As soon as I get that kiss."

"What?" asked Buffy, not believing what she was hearing. "Are you serious."

"Baby, I am tied to a tree in the Jungle of Mystery," he said, looking straight into her eyes. "I just got tortured by a damn spinal surgeon and a genuine Iraqi. Of course I'm serious. You're just not seeing the big picture here, Princess. Are you really gonna let that girl suffocate 'cause you can't bring yourself to give me one little kiss? Hell, it's only first base. Lucky for you, I ain't greedy." They continued to stare at each other for a moment, Buffy weighing her options. She couldn't let Shannon die. She had to do it. Slowly, she nodded.

"Okay."

"Okay," he echoed quietly, letting the back of his head hit the tree trunk with a soft smile.

After a moment's hesitation, Buffy walked closer to him, kneeling once they were less than a foot apart. Licking her lips self consciously, she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear before leaning in so close that she could feel his hot breath on her lips. Taking a deep breath, she leaned in a bit further so they were touching, closing her eyes as she began to move her lips against his. She was shocked to feel a tiny jolt shoot through her body as he licked her lips, and she parted hers, allowing him entrance. She hadn't felt the slightest bit attracted to anyone since Spike. Their kiss continued for a few more seconds before Buffy pulled away, slightly out of breath. They stayed mere inches apart from each other as they both thought about what had happened. Slowly, Sawyer looked into her eyes, and she was surprised to see guilt written in them.

"I don't have it," he said softly, and Buffy pulled back.

"What?" she asked, struggling to pull her thoughts away from the amazing kiss they had just shared.

"The medicine. I don't have it. I never did." Buffy felt a wave of anger surge through her.

"The book -- they said you found it in their luggage," she said, trying to get all the facts straight.

"Book washed up on shore," he said, looking down at her. "It went in the drink with the rest of-..." However, before he could finish his sentence, Buffy had cocked back her fist and punched him straight in the jaw, forcing his head back against the tree. Without another word, she stood up and walked away, leaving him tied. Walking back to the beach and seeing Jack and Sawyer, she made her way toward them.

"He doesn't have it," she said quietly when she reached them. All that. For nothing.

"What?" asked Jack, looking her in the eye, clearly looking to see if she was playing with them.

"He's lying. Can't you see that?" asked Sayid, gesturing wildly. He's been lying from the beginning. He doesn't want us to get off this island. That's why he attacked me."

"Wait! Sayid!" cried Buffy, trying to get him to calm down. "I don't think he's lyi-..."

"He destroyed the transceiver," Sayid shouted over his shoulder as he turned and headed back the grove where Sawyer was tied.

"You don't know that!" said Jack, and he and Buffy sprinted off after Sayid to try and stop him. "Sayid!" However, they were too late. By the time they reached the clearing, the two men were rolling around on the ground. Jack rushed over, trying to stop them, but to no avail.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" They ignored him and continued fighting, rolling over several times on the ground before Sawyer cried out in pain. They stopped fighting and Sayid moveed, giving Buffy a clear view of the knife that's sticking out of Sawyer's upper right arm.

"Oh god..." Jack hurriedly knelt down next to Sawyer, and pulled the knife out, sending a shower of blood splattering onto Buffy's clothes.

"He hit an artery," Jack informed them, and Buffy quickly stripped off her shirt, balling it up and using it to keep pressure on the wound, ignoring Jack's conversation with Sayid. She felt Jack's hands over hers, and let him take over.

"Sawyer?" she said softly, pushing some hair off of his sweat-slicked forehead before cupping his face in her hands, leaving smears of blood. He had gone unnervingly quiet, not at all like his usual self. "Hey, Sawyer. Look at me. C'mon." His eyes connected with hers, but he remained still. Suddenly, he seemed to snap awake.

"Let go. I know you want to," he snarled, struggling so hard that Buffy had to grab his shoulders to hold him down so that Jack could keep the pressure on his wound.

"Shut up, and stop moving," ordered Jack, snapping into doctor mode.

"You've been waiting for this, haven't you?" Sawyer shouted, continuing to flail about. "Now you get to be the hero again, 'cause that's what you do. You fix everything up all nice." He turned toward Buffy and both his eyes and voice softened. "Time to let go, Princess. We already made out. What else I got to live for?" Buffy looked shocked, but he ignored her, turning back to Jack. "Hey, Jack, there's something you should know. If the tables were turned... I'd watch you die."

Just then, he slipped into unconsciousness and became very still, clearly having worn himself out. Buffy let out a sigh of relief, and Jack sent her a small smile. They sat there like that for a few more minutes before Sayid burst into the small clearing with Jack's leather bag. Jack bandaged him quickly, and they carried him back to the beach, laying him down in his tent before all going on their own way. Sure that he was going to be out for a while, Buffy went to clean up, washing the blood off of her arms and face and changing her clothes before heading back to the tent. Seeing that he was covered in blood, she went to get a bowl filled with water and a cloth before returning and cleaning the blood off of his face, chest, and arm. When she was done, she sat back, exhausted, waiting for him to wake up.

"Hey," she greeted softly about half an hour later when she saw his eyes open. He turned to look at her and then down at the bandage covering his arm. "You okay? It was really touch and go there for a while."

"Oh, peachy," he said. He moved to get up, but she pushed him down, noticing his wince of pain. "Getting stabbed isn't all it's cracked up to be. Who woulda thought." Buffy inwardly agreed; She had been stabbed enough times to know what it felt like.

"You're lucky to be alive." Buffy looked up to see that Kate had entered the tent and was staring down at them.

"I'll just..." Buffy trailed off, pointing helplessly at the exit before getting up and leaving to give them their privacy. Emerging from the tent, she noticed Sayid walk by with a backpack slung over his shoulder. "Sayid!" He stopped and waited so that she could catch up with him.

"I can't stay here," he said once she had reached him.

"What?" she asked, confusing marring her features.

"I'm leaving. I don't know for how long."

"Sayid, you can," she said, looking into his eyes. "We still don't know what's out there."

"I have worse things to fear that what's in the jungle." He turned to look at the jungle before turning back to her. "What I did today... what I almost did... I swore to never do again. If I can't keep that promise, I have no right to be here."

"But you had to!" said Buffy, desperately trying to find anything that would make him stay. "Shannon needed us! If you hadn't..."

"Someone has to walk the shore and map the island, see what else there is," he interrupted, ignoring her. "I can't think of a better person to do it than the only one I trust."

"Let me go with you," she begged, grasping at straws. She knew that he was a soldier, but he hadn't seen half of the things she had. She was the Slayer. She could handle whatever was out there. He couldn't. She could protect him. "It's dangerous out there..."

"You're place is here, Buffy," he said softly, giving her a small smile. "This is something I have to do alone."

"But I-..."

"I hope we meet again," he said, gently interrupting her protest. He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips, kissing the back, before turning and walking off without another word. Buffy knew that he was right, that she was needed her, but as she watched him head off down the shore, she couldn't help wondering if she had made a big mistake in letting him go. 

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Well, that's it for now. I don't hate Kate, but I never really saw what was so great about her to warrant all of the attention she gets. I like Buffy a lot more, so she will be the one that has all the guys chasing after her instead of Kate. But don't worry, Kate will end up with someone... eventually. Hope you all enjoyed! Feedback is greatly appreciated!


	9. Solitary

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or LOST. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon, and LOST belongs to J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof. I'm just a poor college student playing around with the characters. The plot pretty much belongs to J.J. and Damon, as I'm just taking existing LOST episodes and inserting Buffy into them. A large amount of dialog is taken from the episode itself. Episode transcripts taken from twiztv.

Okay, so I'm getting kind of tired of writing exactly to the episodes, and I'm sure you're tired of reading them, so I'm going to mix it up a bit. The chapters will still contain dialog and scenes from the original episodes, but I'll be adding a bit of my own flair to them. Hope you enjoy!

Sorry this took so long to write... I just got back down to college and classes have already been kicking my ass. Yeah, I know... The first week... Hopefully it'll calm down slightly so that I can continue writing both this and my Buffy/HP fic!

Thanks to Toniboo, justjane, ah-non-nee-mousse, DemonicAngelus, and Shalia74 for your wonderful suggestions and reviews! Glad you guys are liking it so far! Also, there's been quite a few votes for either Buffy/Jack and Buffy/Sawyer, so let me know what you think would work out best! I love the suggestions! I also love Boone... he's such a cutie and so sweet... so I'll throw him into the voting pile as well!

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"Morning."

Buffy looked up to see Kate standing over her. She was squatting by the small source of fresh water in the caves, filling up a few water bottles before she headed back to the beach. Quickly capping the bottles, she stood up, smiling at the slightly older woman and wiping her hands on her jeans.

"Hey," she greeted, and Kate smiled at her in return. "What's up?"

"Nothing really," answered the brunette. "Was just over there..." — she turned to look toward where she had been talking with Claire — "and saw you, so I thought I'd come over and say hi." There was a pause where the two continued to look at each other. "So you had to kiss Sawyer? And he didn't have the medicine?"

"What? Oh, yeah, he..." she trailed off, something clicking in her brain that she hadn't thought of before. It was completely obvious, and Buffy kicked herself for not realizing it before. "Oh! I'm so sorry, Kate... I had no idea..."

"What?" she asked, clearly confused, not understanding what Buffy was saying.

"That you liked him." Kate looked at her with a raised eyebrow that clearly said_ 'excuse _me?but Buffy ignored her and continued. "I had no idea. I wouldn't have done that if I'd known..."

"Oh please!" scoffed Kate, letting out a short, sarcastic laugh. "I do _not_ like Sawyer. He's an arrogant, manipulative pig."

"Right, okay, was just checking," Buffy said, but was inwardly thinking "deniallllllll." It was clear that she had a thing for him. Just then, Kate was called away by one of the other survivors and bade Buffy goodbye, leaving her to finish refilling her water bottles. Once she was done, she placed them into her backpack and made the one mile trek back to the beach. When she arrived, she saw Jack near the surf, putting on a backpack and staring out into the ocean. "Hey, Doc."

"Buffy," he greeted with a smile, watching as she walked over to him.

"Have you seen him?" she asked, looking off down the shore and then back at Jack with a slight frown marring her features. "It's been two days." He immediately knew what she was talking about and shook his head.

"He'll come back when he's found what he's looking for," Jack answered, and Buffy nodded, sighing heavily. "Sayid's a trained soldier. He can take care of himself." And with that, he turned and left, giving Buffy a smile and telling her that he had to go check on Claire. Not having anything to do, Buffy plopped down onto the sand where she was standing, leaning against her backpack so that she didn't get sand in her hair, enjoying how the sun shone down on her, warming her skin. A few moments later, she felt a presence next to her and looked up to see Locke gazing down at her holding two hunting knives.

"Oh, hey, John," she greeted, sitting up and smiling. "What can I do for you?"

"Want to hunt?" he asked, holding up the knives, and Buffy nodded. At first, she had been appalled at the idea of killing the boar, but had eventually decided to put her skills to better use than breaking up fights between the survivors. They had been hunting together for the past few days, ever since Buffy showed him what she could do with a knife. Apparently the food had run out, and it was once again time for them to go out and find some more.

"Yeah," she answered, getting to her feet and brushing the sand off her clothes. "Why not. It's not like I'm doing anything incredibly important here."

They headed off into the jungle together, Locke handing her a large hunting knife which she sheathed in her belt, both keeping their eyes peeled for any signs that the earth had been disturbed. They followed a trail for about a mile over fallen tree trunks, through clumps of bushes, and over muddy puddles until they they finally came across a medium-sized piglet that was standing at the base of a tall tree. Nodding at his gesturing for her to go ahead, she turned right and circled around back while he stayed in the front so that they could go at it from both sides. Crouching low to the ground behind a bush, she remained still as Locke crept closer toward it, waiting for him to give her the signal. As he walked forward, he stepped on a twig, snapping it loudly, causing the piglet to turn around with a loud squeal and rush toward the source of the sound.

"Now!" Locke yelled and started running from the piglet. Jumping from her hiding place at his command, Buffy launched herself into the air after the creature, tackling it to the ground before it could catch up to John. They had toyed with the idea of Buffy being the bait, but it was quickly discarded when Buffy proved that she could run faster and tackle the boars with greater ease than John could. Her knife secured at her hip, she ignored it, instead snapping the piglet's neck quickly, wanting to cause it as little pain as possible. She rarely used the knife, preferring a quick, painless kill, but she liked the security of it sheathed and held to her body by her belt. It reminded her of home.

"Got it!" she called out, before walking over to Locke and offering him a hand up. She held up the dead boar, and he looked down at her hand with a strange look. Following his gaze, she felt her stomach drop when she realized what she was unconsciously doing; she was holding the one-hundred-and-fifty pound boar by the scruff of its neck, not even flinching or making any sign to indicate that it was as heavy at it was. _Ah... crap_, she thought to herself, as she looked up to see Locke staring down at her, mentally berating herself for her stupidity. Apparently, the lack of supernatural things on the island to kill was making her sloppy.

"What are-..." However, before he could continue and she could make up a lie to tell him, a familiar crashing, mechanical rumbling noise sounded to Buffy's left. Both their heads snapped toward that direction, and without another word to her, Locke turned away from her and started in the direction from where the noise came, what he had just witnessed seemingly forgotten for the time being.

"John!" Buffy whispered harshly, trying to get his attention and hurrying after him, swinging the dead boar over her shoulder so that she could carry it easier. "John! Stop!" She had no intention of letting him walk up to whatever was making that sound, especially because she had no idea what it was or what it was capable of. Forcing her way past a particularly stubborn bush that scratched at her legs and pulled at her clothes, she emerged from the jungle and into a small clearing, almost running into Locke who was standing right in front of the path she had came from. However, before she could nudge him to the side so that she could see what he was looking at, she heard the silky, seductive voice of the last person she would expect to find on the island.

"Hello, love."

Feeling her heart skip a beat and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, which were usually a sign that something supernatural was up, she slowly dropped the dead boar she was holding onto a fallen tree stump before taking a deep breath. Steeling herself for what she was about to see, she stepped around Locke, feeling her breath hitch in her throat when she saw the platinum blond hair, tight, muscled physique, and trademark leather duster of her former lover and enemy. Squeezing her eyes shut, she opened them again to find him still standing in front of her, proving that this wasn't all in her head.

"You see him too, right?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper, tearing her eyes away from Spike and looking toward Locke. He glanced down at her and nodded slowly before returning his gaze to the man in front of him. Buffy too looked away, but instead of just standing there like her fellow survivor, made her way around him and walked right up to Spike, stopping when she was less than a foot away from him, feeling the sunlight that was peaking through the trees warm her back as she got close.

"Buffy," he said, looking at her in that way that made her melt and want to fall into his arms, even if she refused to admit it; a look of pure love and dedication that graced his features whenever he saw her. She turned away quickly at the flood of memories that bombarded her at that image, but looked back once she heard his voice once again. "Buffy, I..." He reached out a hand to touch her but she stepped back quickly out of his reach.

"You're not him" she stated quietly, her voice dead and devoid of any emotion; she wouldn't trick herself into believing that this was really him. Spike faltered and dropped his hand, looking at her calmly before adopting his trademark smirk, the one that she had constantly seen on his face back when they were mortal enemies.

"Now, now, kitten," he said, curling his tongue to the roof of his mouth, something that he knew drove her wild. Refusing to let it have any effect on her, she merely glared at him. "Is that any way to talk to your lover?" She felt Locke shift behind her but ignored him, concentrating on the figure in front of her. "Come on, baby..." He reached toward her again.

"No," she said firmly, taking another step back. "You're not him." He continued to look at her. She stared right back defiantly, refusing to back down. "I know who you are. You're not welcome here." He laughed.

"Not welcome? I had to find somewhere to go since you destroyed my plans and summoned all those little Slayers of yours." He gave her an accusing look, but she stood her ground. "How are they by the way? And your friends... Willow... Xander... little Dawnie..." There was a pause as he continued to smirk evilly at her. "Giles?" At that moment, in a blink of an eye, Buffy found her former Watcher standing in front of her.

"No..." she said softly, not believing what she was seeing, feeling her heart jump to her throat and tears prickling in the corners of her eyes. "No," she said again, her voice wavering slightly, "You're lying."

"You know how I work, Buffy," said the thing that was masquerading herself as her mentor and father-figure. "I would never lie about something like this." A dark look spread over Giles' features, something that Buffy had rarely seen, making her tense slightly. "Imagine my surprise when I realized that you were here. I was ecstatic. Just like old times, is it not?"

"Stop it," Buffy managed to force out through clenched teeth, glaring at him. "You're not him. Stop pretending to be. I know who you are. You tried to kill me once, and you failed. What makes you think that you can do it this time?"

"Ahhh... Now you're on my island. You will do what I tell you to."

"I'd rather die," Buffy snapped back, her voice low and menacing, her inner Slayer shining through at the threat of evil. Giles merely smiled.

"That can be arranged." He continued to look at her, and she met his gaze head on. "You'd better get ready, Slayer. I'll show you who has the power here." And with that, Giles' open mouth widened grotesquely, seemingly swallowing up his body before disappearing into a large cloud of black smoke and streaking from the clearing.

Once it was gone, Buffy's resolve finally broke and felt the tears pool behind her closed eyelids. Giles, her Watcher, her mentor, the one person that she could count on, was dead. Gone. Because she wasn't there to protect him. It couldn't have been lying; it could only manifest itself as someone who had died. Furiously wiping at a tear that had made it down her cheek, she stalked over to the nearest tree, slamming her fist into it as hard as she could, pulling away to see that she had made a huge dent in it. Feeling slight satisfaction at the stinging pain in her hand, she smashed her fist into the tree over and over and over again, alternating punches with each of her hands until she could feel the blood pouring from her battered knuckles and the sweat dripping down the sides of her face, neck, and back. Finally composing herself, she stepped away from the tree with a deep breath, glancing warily at the blood splattered on it's bark, and ripped off the hem of her tank top, tearing it into two and tying the pieces around her knuckles to stem the bleeding. Calmly walking back Locke, who wisely remained quiet, and picking up the discarded boar from the fallen log, the two entered the jungle, heading in the direction of the caves. It had grown dark, but Buffy managed to successfully lead them back to the caves, depositing the boar next to Locke before bidding him goodnight and heading back to the beach. Entering her tent without speaking to anybody, she stripped off her clothes before changing into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and fell asleep almost immediately, mentally exhausted from the day's events. 

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_Sayid was tied to an old wire bed, both hands and feet bound so that he could not move or escape. He was awake, looking somewhere over Buffy's shoulder, but for some reason, she was unable to turn and see what was behind her. She tried to cry out to him, but her voice wouldn't cooperate, and she was unable to say anything._

"_Where is Alex?" asked a woman's voice, tinged with a slight French accent. Buffy briefly wondered if it was the woman from the transmission that had picked up, but was pulled from her thoughts by the woman repeating her previous question. "Where is Alex?" Sayid didn't know; he didn't answer and there was a loud crackling of electricity, mingled with his screams. The small light overhead flickered and the room went dark._

_Suddenly, Buffy was standing a few feet away from where Sayid and a brunette woman were each pointing rifles at each other. She looked between the two and tried to move between them, but found her feet stuck to the ground. All she could do was watch helplessly as Sayid slipped his finger to the trigger and pulled, resulting in a soft click._

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"No!"

Buffy sat upright, sweating and painting, as the images from her dream flashed before her eyes. As the images slowly began to ebb away, she looked around, realizing that she was in her tent on the beach. Scrambling up, she grabbed the hunting knife Locke had given her and slipped on a pair of running shoes before exiting her tent and sprinting up the beach and into the jungle toward the caves in search of either Jack or Locke.

"Hey, Charlie!" she called once she reached the caves, seeing Charlie and Claire sitting alone and talking. "Where's Jack?"

"I don't know," answered Charlie, shrugging, and Claire nodded her head in agreement. "He went off with Hurley a while ago. Don't know where they went."

"And Locke?" Buffy prompted. Charlie shrugged and said something about him going hunting, but Buffy had stopped paying attention after he had indicated that he had no idea where he was. Without another word, Buffy turned and left the caves, exiting and stopping after a few paces, standing still for a few moments until before getting the feeling that he was to the left. Making her way in that direction, she stopped and closed her eyes, and once again, had a feeling where Sayid had gone. She found this a bit odd, but shrugged it off. Something wanted her to find him, and she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially when she had a friend to find and in all possibility, protect. It took her about half an hour and a few more pushes from whatever was guiding her, but she finally found the small clearing that she saw in her dream. Bursting through a clump of trees and into the circle of trees, she found it empty.

There was no sign of either Sayid or the brunette woman that was pointing a gun at him. Spinning around in a circle, she finally spotted a rifle lying uselessly on the ground at the foot of a tree. Walking over, she picked it up, examining it for a few moments before she heard a small sound behind her. Snapping into Slayer mode, she whipped around, falling into a fighting stance with the rifle at the ready, fully prepared to shoot whatever it was to pieces. After they had destroyed the Hellmouth, Giles made her go through various training sessions featuring guns, citing that it would help her later on; she was now proficient in almost every type of firearm imaginable. She lowered the rifle quickly when she realized that it was John that had come up behind her.

"Oh, hey, John," she greeted, inwardly on guard at the way he was looking at her. However, she remained where she was standing, wanting to know what he was up to. "What're you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question." He was still looking at her like he was trying to figure her out, something that made Buffy extremely uneasy. For some reason, it was harder to hide her identity from John than the other survivors, Jack, Sawyer, and Kate included. They had no idea how big of a secret she had been hiding from them, but Buffy had a feeling that John knew that she was keeping something from them.

"I was-..." But before she could make up a lie, she was interrupted.

"Tell the truth." He was looking straight into her eyes, and both refused to sever the contact, not wanting to be the first one to give up.

"Excuse me?" She decided that her strategy was to pretend that she had no idea what he was talking about. To deny everything. It had worked well in the past. Maybe it would work this time. "I _was_ telling the tru-..."

"No you weren't," he interrupted again and Buffy gave him a glare that he ignored. "You're different." Buffy gave him a _duh_ look and he stepped closer to her, making her want to back up a few paces, but she stood her ground. "You're stronger than any woman, or man, I have ever seen. And faster. You can track things without looking for signs. You constantly throw yourself into dangerous situations."

"Maybe I have a death wish," she said seriously, echoing what Spike had told her years ago, that all Slayers have a death wish, even if they don't know it yet. He continued to gaze down at her, and she looked right back unfalteringly.

"I don't think so." He came to a halt about a foot in front of her so that she had to crane her neck to keep eye contact. "Someone who had a death wish would throw herself into a situation and not try to get out of it. You try to save people. Every time there was someone who needed saving, you were there." He was standing still, not moving a muscle, but Buffy felt the sensation of a trapped animal, cornered and surrounded, and the Slayer in her screamed at her to push him away, to get as far away from the man that was attacking her as she could. But she didn't. She stood perfectly still, waiting for him to continue. "And you knew that... thing. You knew exactly what it was, and it knew you. Explain that."

"There's nothing to explain," she answered coolly, a little spark of defiance still present, wanting to keep her secret safe, but he was quickly wearing away her defenses.

"Tell the truth," he said so quietly that any normal person would have had to strain in order to make out what he was saying. However, Buffy heard him as clearly as if he had shouted straight into her ear. Still gazing into his eyes, she saw the genuine curiosity present there as well as something that hinted at the fact that he had seen a fair share of strange things himself. Her resolve faltered. Maybe she could tell him. After all, he had seen It, too. That had to mean something... Right?

"You won't believe me," came her last feeble attempt to protect her identity.

"Try me," he said, giving her a small smile, one that she returned with a look of curiosity. "You'd be surprised at what I am willing to believe." Buffy continued to look at him, knowing that he had meant what he had said.

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A bit of a short one, but it took me so long to get this out that I decided not to make you wait any more. Took much longer now that I actually had to make stuff up lol. Hope you enjoyed it and drop me a review on the way out!

P.S. Cookie to anyone who knows who/what the monster is! It's a pretty easy one.


	10. Raised by Another

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or LOST. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon, and LOST belongs to J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof. I'm just a poor college student playing around with the characters. The plot pretty much belongs to J.J. and Damon, as I'm just taking existing LOST episodes and inserting Buffy into them. A large amount of dialog is taken from the episode itself. Episode transcripts taken from twiztv.

Sorry it took me so long to post this chapter! Life's just been so busy lately, and to tell you the truth, my muse sort of abandoned me. Hopefully this chapter is as good as they were before!

Thanks to Shalia74, faxness-rulz, just jane, Toniboo, urangel, buffangel23, Kate, ellie, and hac92 for your wonderful reviews! I really appreciate your feedback!

I know the events with Sayid happened in the previous episode, but I needed something for Buffy to do away from camp while everyone dealt with the situation with Claire. So just bare with me, and I hope it turns out alright!

Lastly, thanks SO MUCH to whoever nominated me for the Twisting the Hellmouth Crossing Over Awards for the Best Unfinished Crossover (Television)! It completely made my day! I had no idea that you guys liked this fic so much! If you want to vote for it, just head over to tthfanfic and cast your vote!

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"Your friend brought you back even though you were in heaven?" Buffy looked at John and sighed before nodding her head. The two had spent hours searching for Sayid, Buffy adamant about finding him after what she had seen in her vision, but he was no where to be found. When it got dark, John finally managed to convinced Buffy to head back to camp to sleep and restock on supplies before heading back out and continuing to search. They had been talking almost the entire time about Buffy's past and destiny, and John appeared to be intrigued by what she had been though. In return, John had told Buffy about the gift the island had given him and his new purpose. 

"Well, they didn't know about that at the time. They thought I was in some fiery hell dimensio-..." But before she could finish her sentence, she was cut off by a loud scream coming from the caves. With a quick look at John, Buffy sprinted off in the direction of the noise, leaving him to make his own way. Skidding around the corner into the large, enclosed room, Buffy saw Charlie kneeling beside a sobbing Claire.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Claire!" Charlie yelled, holding Claire's hands in front of her in an attempt to stop her flailing. Michael ran over to see what was happening, but Claire continued to scream wildly, bringing her hands up to swat Charlie's away. "Hey! Hey! Wait, wait, wait a minute!" Jin and Sun also joined the crowd, but Claire seemed to be oblivious to the crowd. Reaching them, Buffy stopped and fell to her knees, grabbing the younger woman's face gently in her hands and making soft shushing noises. Slowly, Claire's screams reduced to quiet sobs, and Buffy gave her a soft smile. "It's okay. Claire, it's alright, you were sleepwalking. Alright?" Charlie soothed, running his hand through her hair while Buffy let her arms drop to her sides, looking her up and down to make sure that she was alright.

"Claire, what happened to your hands?" Buffy asked, gently folding her hands around Claire's and shifting them into her lap, palms up, so that she could inspect them. "Go get Jack," she ordered Michael softly, and he hurried off to get the doctor. "Charlie, go get me some peroxide and bandages." Charlie rushed off to gather supplies, and Buffy continued to try and get Claire's attention. When she didn't answer, Buffy prompted again, causing the small blond to look up through tear-streaked lashes. "Claire? Honey, are you alright?"

"I don't-..." she trailed off, staring up at Buffy liked a lost puppy.

"It's alright, let's wait until Jack gets here before you explain anything, alright?" She was surprised at her gentle, mothering voice, but she quickly pushed her shock to the back of her mind, concentrating on the woman in front of her. Claire nodded, sniffling slightly, and Charlie returned with the supplies. "Thanks." Uncapping the hydrogen peroxide, Buffy sloshed a small amount onto a cotton ball before taking one of Claire's hands in her own. "Sorry, this might sting a bit, but I want to get this cleaned up." Buffy pressed the cotton ball to the palm of Claire's hand and winced as she flinched, but continued to rub it over her wounds. Discarding the cotton ball, she grabbed another so that she could clean the other hand. Jack sat down next to her, and she smiled at him before dropping the cotton ball and grabbing a roll of bandages.

"Must have been a hell of a nightmare," said Jack softly as Buffy finished taping the bandages to Claire's hands and stepped back to give him space to find out what happened. Claire nodded timidly, still clearly shaken by what had happened. "Did you ever sleepwalk before?"

"No. I don't think so," answered Claire, finally finding her voice. Buffy saw Charlie hovering around the blond, but didn't say anything, knowing that he was extremely concerned about her. "How would I know?" Walking over to Michael, Sun, and Jin, who were watching the scene from a small distance away, she greeted them with a smile before sitting down.

"Hey guys. What happened?" Obviously, Jin and Sun didn't understand her, but Michael answered after a small pause.

"I don't know. We were all sleeping," he mimed sleeping, and Jin nodded, agreeing with him, "and all of a sudden she was screaming. Charlie tried to calm her but she didn't stop until you got here. And, well, you know the rest." Buffy nodded before getting up and walking back over to Jack, wanting to hear what had happened. Claire was chuckling, abet somewhat uncomfortably, and seemed to have calmed down.

"There was a baby crying, and I was running toward it," she started rather timidly, but gradually gained relaxed enough so that she was talking at her normal volume. "In the...um..." She paused, thinking. Buffy, Jack, Charlie, and John were sitting close to her, patiently waiting for her to continue. "In the forest... there was a crib. When I reached into the crib... there were blankets. White. Um... But then there was blood. So much blood..." She broke off with a sob, and Buffy took her hand in hers, giving her a small smile when Claire caught her eyes.

"Alright. It's okay, now. We're here. No one's going to hurt you, okay?" Claire nodded, giving Buffy a small smile of her own, and drew her hand back to her chest, letting out a small yawn. "Why don't you get some sleep." She looked slightly startled at the suggestion, but Buffy hastily continued. "I'll be right here. We'll be right here. Don't worry." Nodding again, Claire settled down on her makeshift bed, and Buffy, Charlie, Jack, and John all stood up, wanting to give her some space. "You guys go ahead and sleep. I'll keep watch. Call you if anything happens." John and Jack nodded and headed off immediately, knowing that she could handle whatever was thrown at her, but Charlie was more hesitant to leave Claire's side.

"But... What if she wakes up? I won't..."

"Charlie," Buffy interrupted gently. "You're just over there." She pointed toward his bed, only a few feet away from Claire's, and gave him a small, reassuring smile. "You'll be right here. If she wakes up, you'll be at her side in a second. I just want you to get some sleep, alright?" He looked over at Claire, still thinking it over. "I promise. If she wakes up, I'll call you right away." Still looking at Claire, he nodded slowly before walking away and sitting down on his bed. Sighing, Buffy walked over to the stone wall, sliding down it so that she was leaning against the wall with her legs spread out in front of her. Letting her head fall back against the wall with a small _thump_, she settled in, remaining there for the next few hours until the sun, as well as the inhabitants of the cave, rose.

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"Morning." Buffy looked up to see Jack above her with a backpack slung over his shoulder. 

"Hey," she answered, smiling up at him. She accepted his offered hand and pulled herself up, brushing the dirt off her jeans and looking around. Everyone seemed to be waking up, and Buffy sent Charlie a mock-salute as he made his way over to Claire's bedside. Seeing that he had everything under control, she turned her attention back to Jack. "Look at you. All packed. Where are you off to?"

"I'm going back to the beach," he nodded his head in the direction of the entrance of the cave. "Want to see what's been going on over there. Would you care to join me?" Looking around, Buffy saw that John had disappeared, and she nodded.

"Sure, haven't been out there in a while." Since she hadn't brought anything with her when she rushed off to look for Sayid, Buffy and Jack headed straight to the beach, making small talk and laughing the entire way, trying to lighten the mood of the night before. Reaching the beach, they bid each other goodbye, Jack seeing Kate and Buffy making her way toward the water, ignoring the people scattered across the beach.

Shaking the tiredness from her body, Buffy ran hear hands through her hair, letting it whip around her face in the breeze. Kicking off her tennis shoes and socks, she dug her toes into the clean, white sand and stared out into the ocean. Making up her mind, she stripped off her jean shorts, tossing them onto the sand, leaving her clad in only a t-shirt and underwear, and waded into the clear blue water. Taking a deep breath, she dived in head first, feeling the cool water rush over. After swimming a few quick laps from the shore to about a hundred feet out and back, Buffy headed back in, collapsing onto the beach, with her body resting on the wet sand and her legs dipping beneath the surface of the water. Flinging her arms to the side, she grabbed a bunch of sand in each hand, loving the way the rough texture slid over her smooth skin. Dropping the sand back to the ground, she placed her arms behind her head, closing her eyes and sighing, burying her feet in the sand beneath the water.

"Hey." For the second time that day, Buffy looked up to see a handsome man standing above her. Bringing her hand to her face to shield her eyes from the sun, she smiled at him, gesturing for him to take a seat.

"Hey, you." Boone sat down beside her, kicking off his shoes and socks so that he could dip his feet in the water. "What's the what?"

"Nothing much. Just saw you over here all alone and wanted to see what you were doing." He felt her eyes on her as they swept over her body, but she ignored him with a smile, continuing to stare out into the ocean.

"Ohhhhhhh, nothing. Didn't get any sleep last night, so I thought I'd go for a swim to wake myself up." She closed her eyes again and opened them to see Boone smiling down at her. "But clearly it's not working out too well." She gave a little laugh. "Hot sun and all."

"Hey, so, do you want to-..." She looked over at him interestedly, but he was interrupted by a loud, female voice.

"BOONE!" Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes mockingly, and he gave her a grin before looking over his shoulder.

"What?"

"Boone! Come here!" Buffy turned as well to see Shannon stalking toward them, dressed in the tiniest string bikini imaginable. "You were supposed to be getting me something to eat! What are you doing?" Stopping next to them, she gave Buffy a look before covering it with a smile. "Oh, hey, Buffy."

"Hi." Buffy gave her a small smile, gagging mentally at the girl's fakeness. What did she have to be jealous about? She was his sister, not his girlfriend. Right? Mentally shaking her head to dispel her thoughts, she concentrated on the conversation the two were having.

"Come on, Boone, I need your help. Sorry to steal him away from you." She sent Buffy another smile, and Buffy gave her a two-fingered salute. Boone gave her an apologetic smile, and she gave him a wink before dropping back down onto the sand. A few minutes later, feeling her toes starting to prune, she got up and waded back into the water, rinsing the sand out of her hair before wringing it out and drying her body off with her discarded shorts. Grabbing her shoes and socks, she made her way across the sand toward her tent, closing the flaps so that she could get some privacy. Peeling off her wet underwear, bra, and t-shirt, she started to dig through her duffel bag, pulling out clean underwear, a black tank top, and a pair of dark jeans. Quickly getting dressed and lacing up a pair of black combat boots, she strategically hid a few stakes and a knife on her body and grabbed her backpack, shoving a light jacket and two filled water bottles at the bottom before exiting the tent and making her way toward the main part of the camp. Reaching the communal food table, she grabbed a mango and a few bananas, wanting to stock up in case she had to spend the night away from camp.

All packed and ready to go, Buffy gave the people clustered on the beach one last look before turning away and heading into the jungle, resuming her search for Sayid. She fought her way though bushes, around trees, and over fallen logs, keeping a lookout for any movement or disturbance. She continued to search for hours, making her way deeper and deeper inland, but eventually decided to take a break, plopping down on a tree stump and pulling a slightly squished banana from her backpack. Leaning back against a tree behind her, she peeled it slowly, lifting it to her mouth and closing her eyes to savor the taste.

However, before she could finish her snack, she heard a soft rustling noise, and she flung herself to the ground, peering through the underbrush in search of the source of the noise. Retreating deeper into the bushes when she saw a skinny, brunette woman armed with a rifle of some kind emerged from the ground, Buffy waited until she was out of sight before picking herself up from the ground and dashed toward the entrance to what appeared to be a shelter, ducking low to the ground in an attempt to blend in with her environment. Stopping when she reached the hole, she quickly looked around before dropping down, completely ignoring the ladder. Hearing a movement behind her, she spun around, only to find the object of her search chained to a chair with a gun pointed at her head.

"Sayid!" Seeing who it was, he let the hand holding the rifle to his side, giving her a tired smile. "Oh my god. You have no idea how long I've been looking for you!" Crossing the distance between them with only a few strides, Buffy wrapped her arms around his shoulders, bringing him in for a hug which he quickly returned. "What the hell do you thing you're doing here!" She gave him a slap to the shoulder, but with Slayer strength, it hit much harder than she had in tended it to.

"Ow!" He brought his hand up to rub his shoulder, giving her a slight glare.

"I've been traipsing around this freaking island for _hours_, and it turns out that you're camped out with some woman in an underground..." She looked around, taking in a rusting, mental framed bed, papers cluttering almost every surface, and other random trinkets fulling the room. "Bunker... thing... And I don-... What happened to her leg?" She noticed that here was a hole in his pants at the thigh, as well as a large blood stain. Looking his body up and down, she realized that he was covered with cuts and scrapes, the most serious being a nasty-looking cut on his forehead. "What happened to you?"

"Buffy," he interrupted her gently but urgently. "We need to get out of here. Before Danielle comes back."

"But I-..."

"Buffy! Please, find something to get these chains off of me..." Fully concentrating on the chair he was sitting in, she took in the chains restraining him; one around his middle and two holding his feet in place. Pausing for a moment to debate whether or not she wanted to show Sayid her strength, she decided that she had to, grabbing the chain around his waist before looking up into his eyes.

"Hold on, this might hurt a bit..." Without another word, she pulled the chain toward her, feeling it snap under her fingers, dropping it to the ground once she had pulled it free. She did the same with the chains attached to his ankles and helped him to his feet. "There. All free." He stared at her for a few moments before seeming to snap back to reality. Without a word about her immense strength, he limped a few paces to the left and picked up something that Buffy couldn't identify, which he then shoved in his pocket. Then, he made his way over to the table and quickly grabbed what appeared to be a series of maps, folding them up, and shoving them in his backpack. Lastly, he slung the backpack and the rifle he was holding over his shoulder and grabbed another. Grabbing her arm, he pulled her toward the ladder, limping as he walked. "Hey! Wait! What's going o-..."

"Come! We need to go!" He gave her a small push, and she looked at him quizzically, but took the rifle he handed her and climbed up the ladder, pulling herself out of the hole, and waiting patiently for Sayid to make his way above ground, moving slower than usual because of his injured leg. Without a look at Buffy, he headed off into the jungle but stumbled a few paces in, causing her to jump forward to catch him before he fell. Giving him a look, she threw one of his arms over her shoulder, supporting most of his weight as he hurried away from the shelter. However, a few minutes later, Buffy heard the snapping of twigs, and literally threw herself and Sayid toward the shelter of the trees, slamming them up against a trunk and clamping a hand over his mouth to muffle his gasp of surprise. His eyes widened as he saw the mystery woman Buffy had seen climbing up from the shelter walking past their hiding place. Taking his arm back from around Buffy's shoulders, he grabbed his rifle from his shoulder, slowly and quietly leaving the shelter of the trees and limping into the path behind the woman. Buffy tried to grab him and pull him back but missed, swearing under her breath and following Sayid into the open clearing.

"Put the gun down, Danielle." The woman turned to see him with his rifle pointed at her, a look of shock and disbelief showing on her face. Buffy sided up to Sayid, grabbing her own rifle from her back and raising it so that it was pointed at the woman. "Put it down," he ordered again, but she continued to stare at the two, her eyes flickering over to Buffy, clearly wondering who she was. Slowly, she raised her rifle so that it was pointed at Sayid, and Buffy placed her finger on the trigger as she felt him suck in a breath next to her. She heard the click of his rifle, but nothing happened. Confused, Buffy pulled the trigger of her own gun, but again, it emitted a soft clicking sound but didn't fire. She glanced over at Sayid, who was still staring at the woman in front of them.

"The firing pin has been removed," the woman said in a distinctly French accent. Suddenly, something clicked in Buffy's brain: this was the woman that had sent the distress call that was still repeating. "Robert didn't notice it was missing, either, when I shot him." Annoyed, Buffy tossed the useless rifle to the side and made to lunge at the woman, but Sayid put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a look.

"But you loved him," he stated, his voice soft and sounding about as confused as Buffy felt. She looked at him again, but he ignored her, concentrating fully on the French woman.

"He was sick," she answered, still aiming the rifle at Sayid's head. Buffy fidgeted at his side, not used to standing still while she or her friends were being threatened, but stood her ground, hoping that he had some sort of plan.

"Sick?"

"It took them..." she trailed off, her voice filling with despair,and Buffy quirked an eyebrow, wondering where the outburst of emotion had come from. "One after the other. I had no choice. They were already lost."

"You killed them," Sayid stated, and Buffy turned toward him. Great, this Danielle woman was already a murderer. Apparently she had killed _multiple_ people. What was stopping her from shotting them where she stood?

"What would have happened if we were rescued? I couldn't let that happen. I won't!" She gripped her rifle a bit tighter, and Buffy finally snapped. She wasn't going to let Sayid get shot by this crazy woman.

"Hey! Lady, you'd better point that thing somewhere else, or you're going to find it shoved somewhere very uncomfortable!" Sayid once again placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her, but she continued to glare at the woman who was threatening her friend. The brunette finally turned her attention to Buffy, waving her rifle in the small blond's direction. "Who's she?"

"A friend." The woman seemed to want more, so he continued after throwing his rifle to the ground. "She was on the plane crash with me. She came to find me when I disappeared." There was a pause where the three continued to stare at each other. "We're not sick."

"I know," she answered, her rifle dropping slightly so that it was aimed at Buffy's stomach. Buffy stood still, letting Sayid handle the situation, but she stayed on guard in case anything went wrong.

"Then why kill me?" he asked, also seeming to noticed that her resolve was wavering.

"I can't let you go!" she shouted, her voice raising her and eyes filling with tears. The rifle dropped another few inches so that it was pointed at Buffy's knees. "I can't let you go. Don't you understand? To have someone to talk to ... to touch." Sayid took a hesitant step toward her, but after Danielle gasped and raised her rifle toward his head, he stopped. Buffy jerked forward, but he put his hand up, motioning for her to stay back. She grit her teeth, not knowing how much longer she could stay still.

"'You'll find me in the next life, if not in this one.'"

"What?" Danielle whispered, and Buffy looked away from her and toward Sayid, wondering what he was talking about.

"The writing on the back of Nadia's photograph," his voice so low and sombre that Buffy felt her heart break a tiny bit at his words. "I know what it's like to hold on to someone. I've been holding on for the past seven years to just a thought, a blind hope that somewhere she's still alive. But the more I hold on, the more I pull away from those around me." Buffy sighed, knowing that she too had held onto things for way too long, and looking over at Danielle, she knew that the other woman was thinking the same thing. Sayid took another step toward Danielle, and this time, she didn't resist. "The only way off this ... this place is with their help." Danielle dropped her rifle to the ground and dropped to hdr knees, covering her face as she started to sob. Sayid looked back at Buffy before kneeling down next to her and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Come with us." Danielle shook her head, looking up, her gaze flickering over to Buffy before settling on Sayid. "You don't have to be alone, Danielle."

"I pretty much have no idea who you are, or what's going on, but if Sayid trusts you, then so do I," said Buffy, and Danielle sent her a small smile before returning her attention to Sayid, reaching out and running a hand down the side of his cheek. However, a second later, the emotion slid from her face as she stood up and swung her rifle over her shoulder, taking a few steps back.

"Your people... the ones you're determined to get back to," she glanced over at Buffy, "watch them. Watch them closely." Without another word, she turned and headed off into the jungle, leaving Sayid and Buffy staring after her. He continued to watch her for a few moments before scrambling to his feet.

"Danielle!" She stopped but didn't turn around. "Who is Alex?" Buffy walked up to Sayid, stopping when she reached his side.

"Alex was my child," she answered over her shoulder without turning around. With that, she continued on her way, disappearing through the trees and leaving Buffy and Sayid standing alone in the clearing.

"Well... that was... fun," Buffy said, giving him a bright smile when he turned to look at her. He opened his mouth to explain, but Buffy cut him off, raising a hand to stop him. "I wanna hear about it, but we should probably wait until we get back to camp so that everyone can hear, and so you don't have to tell it twice?" He nodded. "Alright, well lets get back, shall we? It's been a long day." Grabbing his arm and throwing it over her shoulder once again, she snaked an arm around his waist, so that she could support his weight more comfortably. Leaving the useless rifles lying in the clearing, the two continued on the path they had been taking, making their way back to the caves to find Jack. They walked for about half an hour before an eerie hissing and something that sounded like whispering reached their ears. "Wait." Buffy slid out from under Sayid's arm, walking a few paces forward, trying to find out where the noise was coming from. Not seeing anything, she turned back toward Sayid but stopped, seeing something behind him. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

"Buffy." Angel's chocolate brown eyes stared back at her, and she felt like she had been punched in the stomach. When Sayid turned around and noticed the tall, handsome man behind him, he took a few steps back, stopping at Buffy's side. "Baby, I miss you... I don't know how I've lived this long without you. Please, come back to me." Buffy continued to stare at him, her eyes wide, taking in the sight of her her former lover bathed in sunlight. Quickly snapping out of her daze, her gaze hardened, and her hand found its way to her hip.

"C'mon now. Did you forget that I saw you just... lets see" ‒ she brought a finger to her chin, pursing her lips in mock-concentration ‒ "... _yesterday_? Yeah, that little trick's going to work on me." Seeing that she wasn't falling for his trick, Angel's eyes narrowed and he stepped toward her menacingly, stopping only inches from her, invading her personal bubble.

"You have no idea what you're up against, little girl. I will make your life hell. You'll have wished you died down there."

"Oh! I'm so scared!" Buffy raised an eyebrow, giving him a smirk. "What are you going to do? Talk me to death? Get some more of your minions to attack me?" She thrust her hand forward, sending it straight through Angel's chest, and she heard Sayid gasp beside her. "Did you already forget that I already fought you and your little followers? Please. Give me your best shot." Angel continued to glare at her before taking a step back.

"You're going to regret that, girl," he snarled, but Buffy merely lifted her hands in the air and waved them in front of her in a mocking gesture. With one last look, he disappeared in thin air, causing Buffy to sigh heavily and Sayid to place a hand on her shoulder.

"What was that?"

"Aghhhhh..." Buffy growled, frustrated that the First was forcing her secret out when she had tried so hard to keep it to herself. "I'm going to tell you something. But you have to promise not to say anything. Or try to tell me that I'm making it up. Because I'm not." He nodded, and she sighed again. "I'm a Slayer. I fight vampires and demons and stuff. That's why I was able to break those chains earlier. And swim or run for miles and not get winded. It's kind of my job. That" ‒ she gestured to the space in front of her ‒ "was a baddie I fought back home. Thought I killed it, but apparently not." Looking up at his face, she saw that he had an eyebrow raised and was looking at her skeptically, but she grabbed his arm and once again placed it over her shoulder, grabbing his waist with her own arm. "Let's keep going. It's getting back and it's getting dark."

"Alright..." Without another word, the two continued on their way, Buffy hardly straining under Sayid's weight and Sayid limping and trying not to stumble as they hurried toward the caves. A couple of hours later, their journey drastically slowed by Sayid's injury and the various breaks they took so that he could rest, the two arrived at the caves, stumbling around the corner and seeing that no one was sleeping despite the late hour. Claire was huddled in the corner in her bed, and Charlie was sitting beside her, whispering something into her ear. Sun and Jin were sitting by in their own corner, watching the scene but not saying anything. Walt was sound asleep in his bed, but Michael was no where to be found.

"Jack!" Buffy called out, spotting him instantly. He turned toward her, hearing his name, and rushed over seeing that she was supporting a nearly unconscious Sayid. "Jack. I need help!"

"What happened? Where was he?" Buffy collapsed onto the ground, exhausted from running and half carrying Sayid for hours, holding Sayid close to her body so that she could set him down gently.

"Jack!" he called, panting and wheezing slightly from the exertion.

"Sayid. You need to rest. You're injured and-..." but he was cut off as Sayid interrupted him.

"Listen to me!" he demanded, and Jack nodded, ripping Sayid's pants so that he could have easier access to his wound. Having extracted herself from beneath Sayid, Buffy stood up, dropping her backpack to the floor and looking around for the medical supplies needed to patch him up. "I found her... the French woman. I had to come back."

"Buffy! Hurry with the supplies!" In an instant, she was at his side, pushing bandages and antiseptic into his hands. In an instant, she was at his side, pushing bandages and antiseptic into his hands. Sayid grabbed Jack's shoulders, forcing him to focus only on him.

"Listen to me!" Jack stilled, looking at Sayid with confusion. "We're not alone." Jack and Sayid continued to stare at each other before Buffy cleared her throat, causing both of them to snap back to reality.

"We should probably get these patched up, yeah?" She waved her hand in the direction of Sayid's thigh, and Jack nodded. Grabbing a cotton ball and the hydrogen peroxide, Buffy started cleaning the large gash on Sayid's forehead, giving him a look as he brought his hand to his face to swat her hands away. "Do you want this to get infected? 'Cause I don't. Let me clean it up." Forcing his hand back down to his side, she continued to clean the wound. "So what's up with that Danielle woman?"

"Danielle... she and her husband were part of a science team." Finishing cleaning the wound, Buffy dropped the cotton ball to the ground, picking up a lighter and a sewing kit. Taking a needle out of the package, she clicked on the lighter and ran the needle through the flame, sterilizing it. "They were on their way to Tahiti before their ship crashed on this island. They survived for two months before the other people in her group became infected." Glancing over at Jack who was cleaning the wound at Sayid's thigh, Buffy thread the needle and tied a not at the end before starting to stitch up his wound. "She said that they were sick. She killed them." He looked down, and Jack's head snapped up, looking at him in confusion. Tying off the thread after completing the stitching of the gash on his forehead, she grabbed a few bandages and taped them around the wound so that it would stay clean. "She said that there were other people on the island. That she heard them whispering to her in the jungle." He looked over at Buffy, and they shared a quick look without Jack seeing before she turned away.

"Well, I think we're done here," she said, looking at Jack and seeing that he had just finished taping a bandage around Sayid's thigh. "Get some sleep, alright? You've been through a lot." Sayid nodded, looking more tired than ever. Buffy helped him up and to an empty bed, pushing down and covering him with a blanket. "Call me if you need anything, yeah?" He nodded again and closed his eyes, and Buffy gestured for Jack to follow her outside so that they could talk freely.

"Where did you find him?" he asked once they exited the cave, Buffy leaning against the rock, feeling her body protest in tiredness. "What happened to him?"

"I don't know how he was injured, he was already like that when I found him and he didn't tell me what happened, but I found him in that French woman's underground... shelter thing." She started to tell him about the confrontation between them and Danielle, but was interrupted when Hurley ran up to them, panting slightly.

"We hoofed around the entire perimeter, man," he said, gasping for breath and hunching over. Raising an eyebrow in confusion, Buffy reached into her backpack and handed him a water bottle, which he accepted gratefully.

"Nobody saw or heard anything?" asked Jack, watching Hurley warily as he gulped down half of the water in the bottle.

"Unh-unh. Nada," he answered, capping the bottle and wiping his mouth with his hand to catch the stray droplets. "Everyone was asleep. So, I had an idea. I'm out here looking for some psycho with Scott and Steve, right? And I'm realizing, who the hell are Scott and Steve?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Buffy, but was ignored as Jack and Hurley continued to converse.

"I'm not following you," said Jack, shaking his head, looking as confused as Buffy felt.

"Look, if I was a cop, and some woman got attacked, we'd canvass, right?" Hurley handed Buffy back her water bottle with a smile, and she put it back in her backpack, slightly annoyed that they weren't answering he. "Knock on doors, find witnesses. But we don't even have doors."

"Hurley, you're not helping me understand where you're-..."

"That makes two of us," muttered Buffy, but she was once again ignored.

"We don't know who's living here, and who's still at the beach," Hurley interrupted Jack, giving him an apologetic look at his raised eyebrow. "I mean, we don't even know each other. My name isn't Hurley. It's Hugo Reyes. Hurley's just a nickname I have, all right? Why? I'm not telling. The point is, we got to find out who everyone is."

"You want to start a census?" asked Jack, finally understanding.

"A census?" Buffy echoed, still as confused as ever.

"Yeah, a registry," answered Hurley, nodding and gesturing his hands in front of him wildly. "You know, names, what people look like, who's related to who. I mean, we start laying down the law, maybe people will stop attacking each other. It seems like someone's getting punched or stabbed or something every other day here. We got to find out who did this to her."

"Alright, go ahead, I'm going to go back in and check on Claire," he gestured in the direction of the caves, and Hurley rushed off toward the beach, giving Buffy a smile before disappearing. Jack turned back to the caves, but Buffy jumped in front of him, placing her hands on his chest to stop his movement.

"Woah! Hey! Confused!" She dropped her hands to her side, but still didn't move out of his path, waiting for him to explain.

"Claire got attacked last night." She moved out of his way, walking by his side as he entered the caves.

"She what? Attacked attacked? Not a nightmare like last time?" she asked, looking up at him curiously.

"Yeah, she said a guy grabbed her, stabbed her with a needle or something. Hurley, Michael, and a few other guys are at the beach, seeing if anyone saw anything."

"Well, what do you need me to do?" Buffy asked. They stopped by Jack's bed, and he pushed her down onto it, smiling at her explanation of outrage. "Hey! What are you doing?"

"You need to sleep," he answered, nudging her legs onto the bed and covering her with a blanket. She opened her mouth to protest, but he gave her a look, effectively shutting her up. "You haven't slept in days."

"But Claire-..." She waved her hand in Claire's direction, looking up at him quizzically.

"I can handle Claire. I doubt anything else will happen tonight. We've got everything under control, alright?" He knelt down beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She looked at his hand for a second before looking back into his light brown eyes. "Look, you're one of our greatest assets here. Can't have you so tired that you can't function. Just rest, okay?" Buffy hesitated for a second. "Please. I'll come and get you if anything happens?" She continued to stare at him for another second before nodding slowly. "Alright." He gave her a smile before standing up and gesturing toward Clarie. "I'm going to check on Claire."

"Okay," Buffy answered, watching his retreating form before curling up under the blanket. Closing her eyes, she felt the tiredness flood though her body, letting herself slip into sleep for the first time in two days.

---------------------------------------------

Well, that's the next chapter! Hope you all enjoy it! The last little bit might seem a bit rushed, but I had it all written and my computer crashed, making me loose last last 4 pages. I sort of forgot what I had written, so I tried to make it up again. But anyways, I hope to write the next chapter again soon, hopefully before the end of Winter Break so that I don't have to keep you waiting too long! Drop me a review on your way out!


	11. All the Best Cowboys have Daddy Issues

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer or LOST. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon, and LOST belongs to J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof. I'm just a poor college student playing around with the characters. The plot pretty much belongs to J.J. and Damon, as I'm just taking existing LOST episodes and inserting Buffy into them. A large amount of dialog is taken from the episode itself. Episode transcripts taken from twiztv.

Alright, so I know I haven't posted a new chapter in MONTHS, and I don't even have a good excuse. I just sort of lost interest in writing fanfiction, and my new boyfriend has been taking up a lot of my time. But I'm out of school now, so hopefully I'll be able to pump out a few new chapters!

Thanks so much to xspollyx, Kate, Berry, La fin du monde, urangel, and DarkAngelmi818 for your WONDERFUL reviews! Sorry I've made you wait so long for the next chapter! Anyways, enough of me rambling on and on and on with the story!

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"Jack!" Buffy cracked an eye open to survey her surroundings, opening the other eye and sitting up when she saw Hurley running into the sunlit cave and up to Jack, pausing as soon as he reached him to catch his breath. Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, she threw the covers off of her and stepped out of Jack's bed, slipping on her tennis shoes before walking over them to see what was going on. "We got a problem." Reaching Hurley's side, she noticed a clipboard in his hand and gave him a small smile when he turned toward her.

"What's going on?" she asked, giving Jack and Kate a nod in greeting before gesturing to the clipboard in Hurley's hands. "What's that?"

"The manifest," he said, handing it to her. Buffy rifled through the pages for a few minutes, before handing it back to him, not really finding anything interesting. "The census... the names of everyone who survived. All forty-six of us. I interviewed everyone... here... at the beach... I got their names."

"And?" asked Jack, clearly not understanding what Hurley's point was. He looked about as lost as Buffy felt, and locking eyes with Kate, she saw that the brunette was just as confused as she was. She knew what he was talking about, but she had no idea where he was going with it.

"One of them isn't in the manifest! He wasn't on the plane!"

"What?" asked Kate, frowning.

"Who wasn't on the plane?" Buffy added, feeling a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. After all the things she had tried to protect them from, the thought that someone among them could cause them harm never even occurred to her.

"Ethan... the Canadian guy. He's not on the manifest!" Hurley tapped his finger against the clipboard, looking from Buffy to Jack and back.

"Shit," Buffy muttered, dragging a hand over her face in realization. Looking around the cave, she noticed that both Claire and Charlie were gone, and her eyes widened, several versions of what could have happened to them running through her mind.

"Where the hell is he?" Jack was asking, and both Kate and Hurley shrugged.

"I don't know. I saw him yesterday, but-..." Hurley was cut off as Jack called out to her, wondering what was wrong, but Buffy ignored him, her eyes sweeping the area for any sign of Claire and Charlie.

"Has anyone seen Ethan?" She found nothing. Michael and Locke rushed over to the group, stopping when they reached Jack's side.

"Yeah, yeah, he went to get some wood," informed Michael, gesturing toward the mouth of the cave. "Took off on the path to the beach. Is he okay? What happened?"

"Where's Claire?" asked Buffy, and everyone turned to look at her but no one answered. "Where's Claire!" Kate jumped at her outburst, but quickly answered.

"The beach. She went back to the beach."

"And Charlie," Buffy prompted and was met with the same answer. "Shit!" Without another word, she sprinted out of the cave and down the path toward the beach, ignoring Jack's cries for her to stop. Heart pounding in her chest and blood rushing through her veins, Buffy sprinted in the direction of the beach, barely paying any attention to the branches and underbrush that grabbed at her clothes and scratched at her leg. She could hear Jack and Locke running after her, but she didn't slow down, wanting to get to the beach as soon as possible.

"Buffy! Stop!" She came to a screeching halt at John's yell, and looked back, seeing that him and Jack had stopped to look at something. Fighting the urge to keep running, she jogged toward them, seeing that they were staring at a suitcase on the ground.

"What is it?" she asked, panting slightly from the exertion.

"She was moving back to the beach," Jack answered, wheezing slightly, hunched over with his hands on his bent knees to catch his breath. "Claire... that's hers." Standing upright and pointing to a battered suitcase, he started to walk around the area, looking for any other signs of their friends while Locke dropped to his knees to examine the bag. "What happened? Where are they?" he asked desperately, but John shook his head.

"I don't know." Unable to stand still, Buffy started pacing around the small clearing as well, stopping when she saw three pairs of footprints.

"Guys! Look!" She gestured John over, and he knelt to the ground, his fingers tracing each imprint before standing back up. She felt Jack reach her side but didn't look up, keeping her eyes trained on Locke.

"At least three distinct sets all over the place." He gestured toward the three different sets of footprints before pointing out a series of drag marks. "It looks like there might've been a struggle." He got to his feet and walked a few paces to the right, pointing out more drag marks. "Drag marks here... and here."

"Charlie and Claire, there were together," Jack stated, and Buffy gave him an impatient 'duh' look. There was no time for obvious comments like that.

"I think they've been taken," muttered Lock, and Buffy whirled around to look at him, watching him stare down at the ground.

"Shit!" she yelled before cocking back her arm and sending a punch to the tree to her left. Watching as the blood poured from her cracked knuckles and trickled down her arm, she fell back against the tree and slid to the floor, hardly noticing how the rough bark scratched at her back. Looking up, she watched as Jack continued to pace and look around wildly, not acknowledging her little outburst.

"Claire! Charlie!" Deciding that sitting there and screaming their names wasn't going to do them any good, Buffy got to her feet and walked over to a still pacing Jack, placing a hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

"I'm gonna go to the beach. See if anyone's seen them."

"No, you can't go by yourself." He gave her a look and grabbed her arm when she tried to walk away, pulling her toward him. "It's not safe." She gave him a small smile at his concern before gently extracting her arm from his grasp.

"I'll be fine. Stay with John." With that, she took off in the direction of the beach, not sparing him another glance. Arriving at the beach a short while later, Buffy headed over to a few people she didn't know all that well, she informed them of the situation, but, unfortunately, no one had seen either Charlie or Claire. After asking everyone on the beach if they had seen her two missing friends, she had learned nothing and was no more informed than she had been when she had arrived. However, she did her best to spread the word that they were forming a search party and told them to come to her if they heard anything. Seeing John and Kate emerge from the jungle, she walked over to them, stopping and greeting them with a half smile.

"Hey guys."

"Buffy," greeted John, giving her a small nod. "Find out anything?"

"Nothing," she answered, clearly frustrated. "No one's seen them all day. John, something's happened to them. I can feel it." However, before Locke could respond, Boone and Shannon walked over to them, Boone giving her a smile and Shannon barely acknowledging her existence. Buffy had no idea what the girl's problem was, but it was getting extremely annoying.

"I heard you're forming a search party," Boone stated, ignoring the roll of Shannon's eyes. "Can I help?"

"This is a deserted island," his stepsister scoffed at him. "There's no choppers, no Amber alerts. How exactly are you gonna find them?"

"Does it matter?" Buffy snapped, clearly annoyed. Ignoring Shannon's taken aback look, she continued, attempting to calm her voice before she full-out yelled at the girl. "They're our friends. Shouldn't we be doing whatever it takes to find them?"

"By following Ethan's trail," John supplied in response to Shannon's question, placing a hand on the Slayer's shoulder in an attempt to get her to calm down. "No one can walk through the wilderness without leaving signs, bending blades of grass, breaking twigs, especially with captives in tow." He removed his hand from Buffy's shoulder and turned toward Boone, giving him a nod. "And yes, we could use another hand if you're up for it."

"I'm up for it," Boone responded, giving the older man a stiff nod.

"Then let's get moving." Leaving Shannon behind, the four headed off into the jungle, Buffy gratefully accepting the knife John handed her and sliding it into the waistband of her jeans. Falling into step at John's side and leaving Kate and Boone to trail after them, she continued to follow his lead for about half an hour as he tracked Jack's path through the jungle. Keeping her Slayer senses at the forefront, she allowed John to lead, but would correct him if he made a wrong turn. Jack didn't seem to have gotten very far and appeared to have been running in circles the entire time. Finally finding him standing alone in a small clearing and staring off into the jungle in front of him, Buffy walked over to him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder when he made no move to acknowledge her presence.

"Hey," he greeted softly, looking down at her hand before returning his gaze to her face.

"Are you alright?" she asked, her brow furrowing in concern for her friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered, his gaze snapping to John when he, Kate, and Boone stopped next to them.

"It's a good thing you were going in a circle," John said, and Buffy withdrew her hand from Jack's shoulder at a look from Kate to stand by Boone. "Not much of a search grid, but we never would have found you otherwise."

"Did you find anything?" Kate asked quietly, tilting her head to the side and pinning Jack with her gaze.

"No," he answered defeated, shaking his head. "Nothing." Buffy looked between the two, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the tension that rolled off them in waves, but thankfully, John broke the silence a few seconds later.

"You should go back to the caves," he said, addressing Jack and causing the younger man to turn his gaze toward him. "Sayid's leg."

"Sayid's fine," Jack argued, shaking his head, unwilling to give up on the search. "He's fine. You found me. We can find Charlie and Clarie. Now, do we have a trail to follow or not?"

"Jack," said John hesitantly. "This was my fault."

"What?" asked Buffy, and looking around at the others, she saw that they were wondering what he was talking about as well. "What do you mean, John?"

"I hunted with Ethan, I spent time with him. I never sensed anything... off."

"John, you couldn't have known..." Buffy started, but he interrupted her. You couldn't sense evil if a person was human. She had learned that years ago. You could never tell if a person was good or bad simply by feeling.

"No. For everything that I know about hunting and tracking, whoever he is, he knows more. If we catch up with him, I don't want anything to happen to the only trained physician on the island." Jack listened silently and nodded after John had finished, seemingly understanding what he was saying.

"Can we go now?" It wasn't a promise to go back to the caves, but it was probably the best that they were going to get out of him.

"Yeah, come on," Buffy said quietly, taking the lead and heading off to the left. Quickly picking up on Ethan's trail, being distinguished from Jack's by drag marks and multiple sets of footprints, she fought her way through the thick underbrush, over rocks, and around trees stopping briefly for the others to catch their breath whenever the needed it. She had no idea how long they had been searching, but she didn't stop, even when the muscles in her legs started screaming at her to rest. She wouldn't stop until she found Charlie and Clarie. Even if she had to search all night.

"Stop," instructed John. So much for not stopping until she found Them. Buffy came to a sudden halt, pitching forward slightly when Boone walked right into her, but was instantly steadied by his hands on her waist. Giving him a grateful smile, she walked around him and back toward John, making her way around a panting and gasping Jack and Kate.

"What's up?"

"We'll mark our progress by line of sight," he said while extracting an old red shirt from his backpack and ripping it into strips. "Tie these off so we don't get lost." Buffy nodded in agreement, knowing that she would be able to find her way back regardless but also knowing that the other's wouldn't be able to, especially since it would be getting dark soon. Thank God for Slayer senses.

"You can lead us back to camp, right?" asked Boone, and Buffy could sense the worry in his voice.

"If nothing happens to me," John answered, pausing for a second for that information to sink in. Buffy watched as Boone's eyes widened slightly before taking the shirt out of the older man's hands.

"Maybe I'd better take marker detail." Giving Boone a smile, John looked behind them to see Jack and Kate catching up to them.

"Anything?" asked Jack panting slightly, coming to a halt next to Buffy, who had walked over to nearby tree and leaned against it.

"Not yet," answered John, shaking his head and glancing at her.

"If you can't find the trail-..."

"I'll pick it up again," John cut him off, slightly insulted. Buffy looked back and forth between the two men, wondering how far they were going to take this testosterone contest. "We need to rest for a minute, to get our clarity back."

"You're gonna take a break?" asked Jack, clearly annoyed. "It's gotta be almost four o'clock. When the sun sets, there's no way-..." Wanting to interrupt him before the argument turned into a full-out war, Buffy gently placed a hand on the older man's shoulder and shook her head slightly.

"It's 4:25," snapped Locke, and pulled out his water bottle before sitting down on the large tree stump next to him. "And yes, I'm taking a break."

"But-..."

"Can I talk to you for a sec?" Without waiting for an answer, Kate grabbed Jack's arm and pulled him away, rolling her eyes and smiling at Buffy. Watching as the two disappeared into the jungle, the blond sat down in the ground next to Locke and crossed her legs, leaning back against the moss-covered tree behind her. Sighing and rubbing her eyes in frustration, she opened her eyes, sitting up a little bit straighter when she noticed something white wrapped around a twig a few feet away. Hardly noticing when Boone sat down next to her, Buffy pushed herself off of the ground and walked over to the mystery object, snatching it out of the tangle of branches, her eyes widening in realization.

"Guys! Look!" she shouted, hurrying over to where Boone and Locke were sitting. She held up the piece of tape with the letter "L" written on it in Sharpie. "Jack! Get over here!" Dropping the small object into Locke's hand, she started to pace back and forth, keenly aware of Boone's eyes following her every movement.

"What is it?" asked Kate, curiously peering at the piece of tape.

"Look familiar?" asked Locke in response to her question, dropping it into Jack's outstretched palm.

"It's Charlie's," he answered, nodding his head and handing it back to the older man.

"You think it just came off?"

"No." Buffy shook her head in Boone's direction. "He's leaving us a trail. Come on, lets go." Without another word, she started off in the direction of where she found the small piece of tape, hearing the others scramble to catch up with her. Never slowing her pace, she plowed through the trees and underbrush, fully concentrated on finding Charlie and Claire and ignoring the way her muscles burned and her lungs felt like they were going to explode. Noticing another piece of tape with the letter "A" written on it, she came to a halt, looking around and spotting a fresh set of footprints heading in the opposite direction.

"They went this way!" Jack called, grabbing the piece of tape and gesturing in that direction.

"Not necessarily," Buffy stated, grabbing his arm when he tried to rush off and pointing to the sent of footprints. "There's another trail there."

"What do you mean 'another?'" Jack asked, sighing and wiping the sweat off of his brow.

"These are footprints," John explained as if he was speaking to a young child. "People moved off this way."

"Charlie's leaving these for us to follow!" yelled Jack, clearly frustrated that no one was agreeing with him. "They went that way."

"Yeah, but what if Charlie isn't the one leaving them?" Buffy saw all eyes turn in her direction, and she sighed, taking a second to catch her breath before continuing to explain. "Ethan's smart. He's not just gonna go running off into the jungle letting Charlie leave a bunch of clues for us to follow. He could have doubled back and put the clues there. There's no real way to know which one's the real trail without following them both."

"Wait, now you're a tracker?" asked Boone, as everyone besides Locke continued to stare at her curiously.

"You're just full of surprises," Locke said, smiling at her, being the only one that knew her secret.

"So, we've got two trails," Jack stated, gesturing in the direction of each one. "Let's split up. I'll take that one."

"Wait," Buffy called as he started to wander off, not wanting him to get lost and/or killed.

"No, we should stay together, Jack," Locke agreed, taking a step toward him.

"Why?" Jack took a step back from the older man, looking at him indignantly. "We've got two trails and apparently two trackers."

"Alright. Fine. I'll go with Jack. Kate, you go with Locke and Boone."

"But..." Kate protested, her eyes flitting from Buffy to Jack, clearly jealous of the attention Jack was giving the blond.

"Go on," Buffy prodded gently, catching her jealousy and giving her a reassuring look in response. "We'll see you soon." Giving her a hesitant nod, Kate turned and followed after Locke and Boone, leaving Buffy to deal with a frustrated and irritated Jack, only to see him already gone. Muttering a few choice swear words, she sprinted off into the jungle, quickly catching up with him and matching his speed. The two continued to run for what seemed like hours without finding another clue, and both were getting worried and frustrated Noticing that Jack looked like he was about to pass out from a lack of oxygen, Buffy grabbed his shoulder, effectively stopping him, and smiled at his confused look.

"What?" he managed through his gasps and pants, bending over and resting his arms on his knees with his head between his legs, trying to catch his breath.

"Jack," Buffy said with a raised eyebrow, watching as he fished a water bottle out of his backpack and took a swig. "You need to take a break. You look like you took a swim the ocean," she added, noticing the sweat pouring down his face and neck. "Rest a bit."

"We can't stop!" he argued giving her an angry look, which was quite amusing since he was still gasping for breath. Spotting something on the tree behind him, Buffy walked over to it, only half listening to the man's angry rant. "Charlie and Claire could be hurt! Or dead! And you want me to take a break? How do you even know we're going the right way? We could have gotten lost somewhere! What if-..."

"Woah, easy there, tiger," Buffy shushed him, walking back over to him with a small piece of tape wrapped around her finger. "Lookie what I found."

"I guess you were right," he relented after a beat, taking the tape from her. "Where to now?" Suddenly, a loud crack sounded, and rain started to pour, drenching them both from head to toe.

"Shit!" Buffy screamed, as the cold water soaked through her clothes. "Perfect. The trail's going to be washed away!" Watching curiously as Jack perked up and looked around wildly, the Slayer tilted her head to the side, wondering what had happened to cause the sudden change in his behavior. "Jack? What-?" But before she could get the question out, he turned and sprinted up the hill to her left, saying nothing in explanation. "Jack! What the hell are you doing? Get back here!" But her yelling was no use, he was already half way up the steep, and now muddy, hill. Sighing, she followed after him, her tennis shoes failing to maintain a steady grip on the slippery ground. Loosing her footing, she grabbed onto the nearest solid object, keeping her balance but slicing her hand open in the process. "Ow! Fuck!" Growling slightly, she forced herself to keep going, ignoring the way the cut on her hand stung and throbbed from all of the dirt and water sliding over it, nearly loosing her balance again when she saw Jack, who had almost reached the top, fall and slide all the way back down the hill. "Jack!" Carefully making her way toward him with slightly more grace than he had had, she broke into a run when she saw him lying in a large puddle with someone standing over him. Ethan. Fuck.

"No more warnings," she heard Ethan, who had his foot pressed against Jack's neck, say before she tackled him to the ground from behind into a large tree. Letting out a small squeak as her back hit the hard wood, she crashed to the ground with Ethan next to her, wincing as she scraped her injured hand against a rock on the ground. Scrambling to her feet, a difficult task as she was standing in a few inches of thick mud, she sent a punch to his jaw, smiling as a satisfying crunch pierced the air. "You bitch!"

"Oooh, I'm scared now," she taunted, dodging a punch aimed at her face. "No one's ever called me a bitch before!" Stupidly turning her head in the direction of Jack's pained groan, she was caught off guard as his foot made contact with her stomach, sending her stumbling backwards and smacking her head against a tree. "Ow." As her vision swam with small, multi-colored stars, she saw Ethan turn and sprint off, giving her one last look before disappearing behind a clump of bushes. Ultimately deciding to tend to her injured friend instead of chasing after the bad guy, Buffy pushed herself away from the tree, wincing as a particularly sharp piece of bark impaled itself in her already wounded hand, she quickly made her way to Jack's side, dropping to her knees in the mud and gently placing his head on her lap, her hands gently cupping the sides of his face to make sure that he was alright. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he insisted, attempting to sit up, only to lay back down and bring a hand to his head as it started to pound and blood started dripping out of his nose and the corner of his mouth. "Ethan."

"Hmm?" Buffy asked, ripping a small strip of fabric from her dirty t-shirt and wrapping it around her hand, gasping at the sudden pressure. Ripping off another small piece, she wiped the blood from Jack's face, her eyes sweeping up and down his body to make sure that he wasn't seriously hurt.

"Ethan was here."

"I know," Buffy answered, sighing. "He got away."

"What do you mean, 'he got away?'" Jack yelled, scrambling to his feet and looking wildly around the clearing. "You let him go?!"

"Hey!" the Slayer answered indignantly. "I didn't _let_ him do anything. He bolted, and I thought it would be better to check on the _one_ doctor we have than run off after the psycho! So sue me!" Bringing a hand up to rake down his face, Jack sighed, giving her an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine." She gave him a small smile and pushed a soaked strand of blond hair out of her face. "Now, the rain has definitely washed away any trail..."

"We have to go," he interrupted, causing her to give him a startled look. "Which way did he go. We have to follow him. Charlie and Claire are in dang-..."

"I _know _Charlie and Claire are in danger, but you have to calm down," she interrupted right back, grabbing his arm as he tried to rush off.

"No! We have to go! Now!" Wrenching his arm out of her grasp, Jack barely took another step before being stopped by Buffy grabbing the back of his shirt.

"No," she ordered, giving him her version of Willow's resolve face. "You're going to stand here and wait until I figure out where he went unless you want me to break both of your legs and strap you to this tree with your own backpack." That seemed to do the trick, and simply continued to stare at her, shutting his mouth and letting her think. Letting go of the back of his shirt, she dropped her hands to her sides and closed her eyes, opening them once she felt a familiar pull in her navel. "Alright, come on." Without another word, she spun on her heel and sprinted off into the jungle at full speed, slowing down when she remembered that Jack would have trouble matching her pace. Flying through a cluster of bushes, ignoring how they tore and scratched at her skin and clothes, she stopped suddenly, causing Jack to barrel right into her, sending her pitching forward, though her Slayer balance kept her from falling.

"What? What is it?"

"No," she whispered, rushing over to where Charlie was hanging from a tree, his hands tied behind his back and blindfolded, the dangling roots from the surrounding trees wrapped around his neck. "No! Charlie!" Heading straight for the tree he was tied to, she scaled it effortlessly, not even wincing as the sharp branches cut into her skin, wanting to get her friend down as quickly as possible. "Grab his legs! Relieve the pressure around his neck!" Apparently, Jack, being a doctor and all, had already thought of this and was currently holding onto Charlie's feet and pushing upwards. Swinging a leg over the branch from which Charlie was hanging, Buffy scooted closer, reaching him in no time and grabbed the roots, and completely forgetting about the knife hidden in the waistband of her jeans, snapping them easily and gently lowering the body into Jack's arms. Not bothering to climb back down, Buffy pushed herself off of the branch, landing gracefully on her feet right next to Jack.

"He's not breathing," Jack informed her, his hands on Charlie's chest and his ear by his mouth. Collapsing to her knees, Buffy took the smaller man's hand in hers, wanting to stay out of the way so Jack could do his work. Sure, she knew how to fix some superficial injuries, but he was a doctor after all. Alternating between breathing into his mouth and compressions, Jack was getting increasingly frustrated. "Come on, breathe. Breathe, Charlie, come on. Breathe! Come on!" He continued his mantra, a wild look in his eyes and his breath erratic. Nothing.

"Jack," Buffy whispered softly, her eyes filling with tears as she started into Charlie's lifeless eyes.

"Come on. Come on. Come on!" Still nothing.

"Jack," she tried a little louder, but he continued to ignore her. Not able to watch any more, Buffy jumped to her feet and started to pace a few feet away, her hands over her ears and her eyes squeezed shut in an attempt to block out the image of Jack pounding on Charlie's chest and screaming.

"Come on! Come on! Come on!" Several tears managed to squeeze their way out of her closed eyelids at Jack's anguished sobs, and she walked back over to him, looking down at him in concern. As the Slayer, it was her duty to keep people alive and do whatever she could to save people, but this was just _painful_. How long could this go on for?

"Jack," she tried again, placing a gently hand on his shoulder but quickly took it back as he jerked away from her and continued frantically pounding on Charlie's chest.

"Come on, Charlie, come on. Come on. Come on. Come on, Charlie!"

"Jack."

"Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on." He continued to pound away, and Buffy finally snapped, unable to take it anymore.

"Jack! Stop!" Grabbing his arm, she jerked him back toward her, holding him against her chest and burying her face in the back of his neck. He immediately stiffened, but started to relax in her arms, leaning back against her and starting to sob. "Jack, I'm so sorry. I'm so-..." But he wasn't having any of it. Sniffling and pushing away from her, he resumed his work on Charlie's body, pounding on his chest and trying to get him to breathe.

"Come on. Come on. Come on," he repeated over and over again, ignoring Buffy's protests. Yelling in frustration, she pushed herself to her feet, sending a punch to the nearest tree, feeling slightly calmer as she watched the blood pour from her battered knuckles.

"Jack! Stop it!" she screamed, the authority in her voice causing him to stop his actions and turn to look at her. Suddenly, Charlie took a deep, gasping breath for air, and both Buffy and Jack's attention snapped to him, their eyes wide in surprise. "Oh God." Running over to him, she dropped to her knees behind Charlie and leaned him against her, rubbing his chest reassuringly as he continued to cough and gasp for breath. Looking up at Jack, she saw that his eyes had filled with tears, and he was staring at the smaller man in extreme relief.

"Yeah, just breath," he soothed, taking Charlie's hand in his. "Breathe, that's it." Ignoring the tears pouring down her own cheeks and into his hair, Buffy held her friend close to her, whispering soothing words as his breath returned to normal. Several minutes later, Buffy interrupted the silence, helping Charlie to his feet and watching as Jack followed her lead.

"Charlie?" He looked into her eyes, and she flinched when she saw the lack of emotion behind them. "We're not far from the caves. Are you ready to go back?" Nothing. He made no effort to communicate. Exchanging a worried glance with Jack, she gently grabbed his arm, leading him through the jungle in the direction of the caves. They arrived about twenty minutes later, the journey having been made in complete silence. Charlie had made no move to tell them what had happened, and they made no move to force it out of him. Buffy knew how trauma affected people; she had reacted in exactly the same way when Dawn had been captured by Glory. Walking into the caves, she was aware of everyone's eyes on them but ignored them, leading Charlie over to his bed and gently pushing him down to a sitting position, draping a blanket over his shoulders. Gratefully accepting a glass of water from Jack, she pressed it into Charlie's hands, watching out of the corner of her eye as the doctor took a seat in front of them. "Charlie? Sweetheart?" He continued to stare blankly in front of him, causing Buffy to furrow her brow in concern. She knew what he was going through, but they needed him to talk if they wanted to find Claire.

"Does that hurt?" Jack asked, lightly pressing his fingers against the bruise around Charlie's neck. Nothing. "How's your breathing?" Still nothing.

"Charlie? Sweetheart," Buffy tried again without any response. "You have to talk to us. We're going back out to find Claire, and anything you can tell us would help. Do you remember anything?"

"What do you remember?" asked Jack gently, checking Charlie's pupils with a mini-flashlight, making sure that there was nothing wrong with him besides the shock. "Where you were going. Did you see or hear-..."

"I didn't see anything," Charlie finally answered emotionlessly, his eyes locking with Buffy's. She could see the pain and guilt behind them, and she frowned, knowing that the only thing that would fix his was to find Claire and bring her back safely. "Hear anything. I don't remember. Anything." There was a pause as Buffy and Jack shared a look before... "Claire."

"What?" asked Jack, watching as Charlie's eyes never left Buffy's.

"That's all they wanted."

"'They?'" he asked again, not knowing what Charlie was getting at. "I-I don't..."

"All they wanted was Claire." Buffy's stomach dropped at his revelation, and for some reason, her brain was only able to think one thing: 'shit.'

--

Hope you all enjoyed! Drop me a review on the way out!


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